Where Is Your God Now? Bath Christian group's 'God can heal' adverts banned - Polidicks

[quote] [b]A Christian group has been banned from claiming that God can heal illnesses on its website and in leaflets.[/b] The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said it had concluded that the adverts by Healing on the Streets (HOTS) - Bath, were misleading. It said a leaflet available to download from the group's website said: "Need Healing? God can heal today!" The group, based in Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, said it was disappointed with the decision and would appeal. HOTS Bath said its vision was to promote Christian healing "as a daily lifestyle for every believer". 'False hope' The ASA said the leaflet read: "Need Healing? God can heal today! Do you suffer from Back Pain, Arthritis, MS, Addiction ... Ulcers, Depression, Allergies, Fibromyalgia, Asthma, Paralysis, Crippling Disease, Phobias, Sleeping disorders or any other sickness? "We'd love to pray for your healing right now! "We're Christian from churches in Bath and we pray in the name of Jesus. We believe that God loves you and can heal you from any sickness." The ASA said it had been alerted to the adverts by a complainant, and concluded that they could encourage false hope and were irresponsible. HOTS Bath said: "It seems very odd to us that the ASA wants to prevent us from stating on our website the basic Christian belief that God can heal illness. "All over the world as part of their normal Christian life, Christians believe in, pray for and experience God's healing; our ministry, in common with many churches, has been active in praying for God's healing (of Christians and non Christians) for many years." The group said it had tried to reach a compromise, "but there are certain things that we cannot agree to - including a ban on expressing our beliefs". The Healing On The Streets ministry was started by Causeway Coast Vineyard church in Coleraine, Northern Ireland, in 2005 and has been taken up by dozens of churches across the UK. [/quote] [url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-16871116[/url] I did laugh heartily and then frown at the thought of the destruction such a ruling would bring in.. other places :v:

Surely it would have been better to tell them just to add a massive disclaimer that faith should be used in conjunction with actual medical help?

Well things like addictions and mental illness can be helped a lot by faith, but that's less God and more people believing in God. [QUOTE]Back Pain, Arthritis, MS, Addiction ... Ulcers, Depression, Allergies, Fibromyalgia, Asthma, Paralysis, Crippling Disease, Phobias, Sleeping disorders[/QUOTE] All of these things could also technically count, but it'd still only be a placebo.

[QUOTE=SeamanStains;34526783]Surely it would have been better to tell them just to add a massive disclaimer that faith should be used in conjunction with actual medical help?[/QUOTE] But, that's science and it's the root of all evil!

[quote]The group said it had tried to reach a compromise, "but there are certain things that we cannot agree to - including a ban on expressing our beliefs".[/quote] You're not expressing your beliefs, you're presenting your beliefs as a proven cure for multiple diseases when there's no proof for it whatsoever. Basically, you're actively harming people who think this will actually do something and stop taking their medication because of it.

false advertising

Pretty much fraud isn't it.

[QUOTE=SeamanStains;34526783]Surely it would have been better to tell them just to add a massive disclaimer that faith should be used in conjunction with actual medical help?[/QUOTE] Why? Why not just tell the truth: medical treatment, not faith, is what heals illnesses?