So You're A Faith Healer, Eh?

So a few years ago I go into a coffee shop. As I am drinking my very bitter coffee I overhear this conversation at the other table. I overhear these two cackling ladies at this other table. The conversation they are having is apparently about faith healing. Well, one of them was claiming she could heal people with the awesome power of the HOLY SPIRIT! Hallelujah!

Well, I didn't actually hear her speak of any evidence, nor did she do any special healing there (she could have 'healed' my coffee so it wouldn't taste like bitter crap). So I boldly walk up to the table and have a brief conversation with these two. I say brief because I requested that if the woman had such a damn power she ought to be able to prove it, but of course those two didn't like me doing that and they promptly left.

Not that I want to ruin somebody's good coffee conversation, but I think making such bold claims like this does entail some responsibility. As somebody who was sickly as a child and has been in hospitals where children are dying from things like cancer, I find it insulting that stupid assholes out there are claiming they can do something that science is not yet able to accomplish.

So to illustrate my reasoning behind faith healing and what it entails check out the following 2 X 2 matrix graph here:

I know some of the letters are hard to read and I apologize for that. Here's the breakdown:

It's a two by two matrix. The two contrasting variables are 1) Does this person actually have the ability they claim they do? (yes or no) and 2) Is this person willing to prove it? (yes or no)

So to my mind there's only 4 logical possibilities and what they entail:

• YES they have ability/YES they are willing to prove claim - So this person actually has the ability to do faith healing.
• Well fantastic! Get your ass on down there to the nearest hospital and start healing the sick and dying.
• If true, this would be the ultimate best case scenario when making such claims.
• Yeah, problem is this doesn't happen. There's no evidence of anybody doing such feats (but plenty of people claiming they've done that, but we'll get to that in a second). 
• NO they don't have the ability/YES they are willing to prove claim - Not actually having any said ability but acting as if you had such an ability (e.g., faith healing at mega-churches, psychic surgery in South America, etc.) 
• So far every time these claims are tested they are proven to be bunk. Look up James Randi, he's spent his entire career demonstrating that these people are frauds. It is easy to claim something and even trick people to think you can do it, but science and reality are hard to fool. 
• These folks claim to be in the first category up there but not when these claims are carefully investigated. 
• People like this are FRAUDS, criminals, shysters, and should stop doing what they are doing. They are actually do more harm than good because even though there are gullable people out there, these sick folks are putting their health in the hands of somebody who can do nothing for them.
• YES they have the ability/NO they are not willing to prove claim - This would have to be the second best outcome, but not in a nice way.
• If you had the ability but refused to do it in anyway it would be rather cruel since such ability could help save lives.
• It's like somebody coming up with a pill to cure cancer but never giving that pill to anybody. 
• This only makes sense when you find out that the people who claim to have abilities will evade all attempts at being proven a fraud. They don't want to end up in the 2nd category so they make up excuses. "Oh, I don't want any money for proving it." Then don't take any such challenge. Just go heal people. "But I don't want to be famous for doing that." Fine, doing it anonymously. "My powers don't work that way." Then your 'powers', quite frankly, are fucking stupid if they in fact are real. 
• NO they don't have the ability/NO they are not willing to prove claim - So these folks here still claim to have the ability and are not willing to put such a claim to the test. 
• I think this is where I found the lady at the coffee shop. 
• Probably the least harmful compared to the professional hucksters, but still, they are egging people on with false notions and you can probably push them either into one of the other categories or shutting up just by challenging them.  

So anyway I hope this graphic here gives fellow philosophers out there a new tool for thinking about things and even this particular issue. I hope for those who are making such claims know better now.