The British Humanists Association is championing new regulations set to go into effect next month in England which will contain stricter regulations for psychics and other spiritualists, including faith healers. The new regulations are designed to reflect European Union directives on fair trading and consumer protection against fraud. The affected spiritualists are complaining that the burden of proof will be shifted by the laws from prosecutors proving guilt to the accused proving innocence.
The Humanists occupy themselves with “campaigns against religion and supernatural beliefs,”1 and one could wonder what future EU compliances will dictate further regulations on faith claims from churches where the Christian gospel is preached. There are, after all, some very impressive claims made that might prove hard to support in an EU court.
Exactly how would one prove, to the satisfaction of Humanists judges, that they are innocent of fraud when they claim to have a message that can save a human soul from Hell? The psychics in England are taking some ribbing about whether they should have seen this coming. One is tempted to ask: does the Church see what’s coming?
Notes:
1. Steve Addison and Paul Casciato, “Psychics see big trouble over new laws,” Yahoo! News, April 18, 2008.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080418/od_nm/britain_psychic_
dc;_ylt=AifYpnlUnZ_nQoyPTmTuTeCs0NUE
Maybe they should and maybe not, but there is a big difference in predicting change in a person’s life and claiming to communicate with the Creator, on a daily basis!