CNN special series on Miracles

[TruthSeeker]

This week on 360 Degreess with Anderson Cooper, they are reporting on miracles.

Tonight's story, about Audrey Santo (http://members.aol.com/theBVMPage/audrey.htm) (be warned: there is loud music and a prayer to a young girl!) was very superficial but at least including the skeptical side (Joe Nickell).

It sent me to google very, very quickly. I knew nothing about this poor girl.

I found this CSICOP article (http://www.csicop.org/articles/19990121-audrey-santo/)

Bed-ridden and comatose, eleven-year old Audrey Santos has received international media attention as hundreds of thousands have made the pilgrimage to her home in Worcester, MA, believing that Audrey had the power to heal. Adding to the worldwide interest, the Santo home has also been the site of icons that mysteriously "weep" oil.


So, is she (presently 20 years old) being exploited by a money-hungry mother? Is her mother merely holding on to Audrey is a strange unresolved grief? Is she a miracle worker?

Fascinating!

[hammegk]

Ah, the perfect joy of being a materialist/atheist with the ability to answer such questions.

Originally posted by TruthSeeker
So, is she (presently 20 years old) being exploited by a money-hungry mother?
Irrelevant.


Is her mother merely holding on to Audrey is a strange unresolved grief?
Irrelevant.

Is she a miracle worker?


Absolutely positively not.

[TruthSeeker]

I didn't think my questions were irrelevant. However, the lack of response suggests they were.

Hmmmmm...I thought the mother was actually more interesting than the daughter as she is the one who created this whole thing. I didn't expect actual answers but rather a discussion of possible motives. How could we really know the truth unless the mother was part of our discussion?

Just so you know, I'm not an atheist.

Oh well...I'll be quiet now.

[J Coplen]

Sadly Joe Nickell was only on to say it wasn't a miracle. He never got any real airtime.

[hammegk]

Originally posted by TruthSeeker

Just so you know, I'm not an atheist.
Whoops, I didn't intend a personal attack. I was presenting a viewpoint I abhor. I now have exactly one data point; viz. "Something Thinks".


Oh well...I'll be quiet now.
Why?

[TruthSeeker]

Originally posted by hammegk

Whoops, I didn't intend a personal attack. I was presenting a viewpoint I abhor. I now have exactly one data point; viz. "Something Thinks".


Why?

Sorry, I'm just in a strange mood today. Please ignore what I said. I'm being overly sensitive.

[Grommitt]

From Little Audrey's web site:Little Audrey fact sheet

August 9, 1987 at 11:03 a.m. — Audrey’s accident
August 9, 1945 at 11:03 a.m. — Bomb fell at NagasakiWhat possible connection could there be between these two?

Comparing a child accidentally falling into a swimming pool with the deliberate nuclear bombing of a Japanese city is supposed to indicate what?

[I'll_buy_that]

Little Audrey fact sheet

What link is there to anything on the "Fact Sheet"

I don't think the mother is exploiting, she seems to be destraught over the condition of her daughter and has been clinging onto anything that comforts her.

if you read the story the mother takes any anomoly as a sign from god. like her cancer not getting worse, the sores on the bottom of her feat healing, the length of time the poor girl survived.

I personally find it disgusting that this girl is being used like she is.

I know I am going to get chastised for saying this, but I think our push to save evey birth goes too far. Audrey probably would have died as an infant if she were born several years earlier. Her life has not been exactly full.

[TruthSeeker]

Originally posted by I'll_buy_that
Little Audrey fact sheet

What link is there to anything on the "Fact Sheet"

I don't think the mother is exploiting, she seems to be destraught over the condition of her daughter and has been clinging onto anything that comforts her.

if you read the story the mother takes any anomoly as a sign from god. like her cancer not getting worse, the sores on the bottom of her feat healing, the length of time the poor girl survived.

I personally find it disgusting that this girl is being used like she is.

I know I am going to get chastised for saying this, but I think our push to save evey birth goes too far. Audrey probably would have died as an infant if she were born several years earlier. Her life has not been exactly full.


I agree with you about the mother...however...I imagine those pilgrims make donations. What happens to all that money?

Perhaps it all goes to Audrey's health care but I wonder if there is any accountability?

Maybe I'm just too cynical.

[CFLarsen]

An evening with a Miracle Man (http://www.skepticreport.com/mystics/hvidtmiracle.htm)

There's a brief description of Audrey Santo there, and some skeptical questions. :)

[Brown]

ABC did a story on this subject several years ago. The believers shown on the program were so wild-eyed with awe that you could have sold them the Brooklyn Bridge.

The oil that was "found" in the home was tested, and was found to be mostly olive oil. I was left wondering why ABC didn't covertly follow around the mother to see how much olive oil she bought at her local supermarket.

The whole thing stank of being a mentally deranged con job, "justified" by those who perpetrated it as being important in "bringing people to God."

[UnrepentantSinner]

Originally posted by TruthSeeker
I didn't think my questions were irrelevant.

Note to TS: Hammy lives in Bizarro world. Any comment he makes about what you've written... just take it as the opposite.

[CFLarsen]

Originally posted by Brown
The oil that was "found" in the home was tested, and was found to be mostly olive oil.

Yeah, but is it virgin olive oil? :D

[I'll_buy_that]

Originally posted by I'll_buy_that

I don't think the mother is exploiting, she seems to be destraught over the condition of her daughter and has been clinging onto anything that comforts her.


After reading a bit more than the initial link, I think the mother is exploiting her daughter. She could have easily stopped it and let the girl get on with what little she has in her life. I still don't think it's for money, though. It may be the need for attention or to feel that something important has happened to her, instead of just having a handicapped daughter. She may also be manipulted herself by the religious authority that "need" this.

It's sad that she is being used like she is, by her mother and many countless others.

[triadboy]

Originally posted by Grommitt

Comparing a child accidentally falling into a swimming pool with the deliberate nuclear bombing of a Japanese city is supposed to indicate what?

She also has an Aunt Enola....who is gay!!!