I watch him when I get a chance and I highly recommend the part where he
answers e-mail questions. I'm a page or two short of finishing Clancy's
book "Abducted". In an attempt to make this conversation more
psychology-related I would toss out the possibility that people who
believe what Pat (and certainly not your personal religious leader) says
and does (daily long-range faith healings) do so for the same reasons
that people believe in alien abduction. They may have some similar
personality characteristics, like an increased level of
fantasy-proneness. But, they believe in explanations in spite of the
fact that those explanations violate logic and the laws of physics.
Whether you believe that Pat fixed some lady's broken ankle or that
aliens levitated you out through the solid wall, it makes you feel like
you are part of something bigger. Cognitive dissonance theory might
suggest that when you give money to the faith healer you then believe
even more stongly. Clancy (2005) said, "Their lives improved. They
were less lonely, more hopeful about the future, felt they were better
people. They chose abduction." Another quote, "Not surprisingly, once
you "discover your place in the universe," you have a hard time being a
skeptic."
BTW, before I started watching Pat I used to watch Louisiana's own Jimmy
Swaggart. I wondered why they were still sending $1.3 million a week in
the mail, even after he was caught with a prostitute. I agree that Pat
never fails to amuse, but Jimmy was a much more dynamic performer.
Clancy, S.A. (2005) Abducted. Cambridge: Harvard University Press
jim guinee wrote:
<<But what is truly scary about all of this is the legion of his
followers who await, hang on, and believe in every word he utters.
Annette>>
Good point, but curiously I've never met anyone who follows this man.
I don't even know anyone who WATCHES him.
How did he get to be so "popular," especially considering so many
Christians and non-Christians wish he would
shut up?
Jim Guinee
--
-- Rick Stevens
-- Psychology Department
-- University of Louisiana at Monroe
-- [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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