John of God faces hundreds of sexual abuse complaints

The BBQ Pit
#1

Well, this is certainly quacktastic news.

*"In recent days, dozens of women have come forward to accuse the famous medium, whose real name is João Teixeira de Faria, of being a serial sexual abuser who preyed on vulnerable patients during would-be healing sessions.

Their accounts have upended the image of Mr. Faria, whose global fame exploded after Oprah Winfrey broadcast a profile of him in 2010 and then interviewed him during a visit to his center in 2012…In a 2010 profile, Oprah Winfrey said: “People around the world credit John of God and the spirits that work through him for many miraculous healings. He has also been misunderstood by some, persecuted by others and even accused of impropriety.”…
Ms. Winfrey’s one-on-one interview in 2012, which aired the following year, turbocharged his fame. It is no longer available on her website."*

Oprah now says we should listen to the women (apparently John of God’s brand of laying-on-of-hands is a bit less palatable now).
Oprah has of course been notorious over the years for endorsing quacks and quackery (amusingly, John of God doesn’t even make this listing of her greatest hits).

Looking forward to John of God attempting to heal his fellow prison inmates with long tweezers stuck up their noses.

Previous Dope thread here.

#2

Googling “Oprah John of god” produced a couple of links to Oprah’s web page that are suddenly 404.

#3

You can’t escape Google Cache.

Oprah’s Visit with John of God: You Are Exactly Where You Need to Be

Leap of Faith: Meet John of God

And, in a completely unsurprising section from the second article:

It’s never especially surprising when one charlatan endorses another; their ill-gotten gains all come from the same pool of gullible targets.

#4

Somebody called “Oz” becoming a career charlatan is one of the more remarkable examples of Nominative Determinism.

#5

I had a cousin with breast cancer who went to see John of God a couple of times before she died in August 2017. It was a desperate move on her part, since the cancer was deemed incurable. She had always been a new-agey sort of person, but this seemed a little extreme. Of course, it didn’t do her any good.

My fear at the time was that John of God was a swindler who would convince my cousin to give him all her money. That didn’t happen, so I was relieved. Now with this, I worry that this bastard abused her while she was visiting his compound. She never said anything about it, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. With my cousin gone, I’ll never know one way or another.

My hope now is that my aunt never learns about this. Losing her daughter, the sole remaining member of her nuclear family, has been hard enough on her. She doesn’t need to consider her daughter being subjected to sexual abuse in the last years of her life.

#6

From Married with Children:

Peg : You’re angry all the time, Al. Oprah says that’s the first sign of mental illness.

Al: No, Peg. Watching Oprah is the first sign of mental illness.

#7

Oh. At first I thought you were talking about this guy and I thought, golly, that is one hell of a long delay in reporting.

#8

Before we judge, we should first ask, “Is he a Republican?” Esteemed religious leader chimes in, my brackets, from here:

#9

He’s Brazilian. Do you suppose he sneaks into the U.S. to participate in our elections?

I don’t want to be accused of junior-modding, but this seems like an attempt to derail the thread.

#10

You seem to be suggesting that religious values should be interpreted as transcending factional or even national boundaries.

#11

What I’m suggesting is that it’s ridiculous to ask whether a Brazilian faith healer is a Republican, and that you’re attempting to change this to an argument about U.S. national politics.

#12

Yeah. Especially since credulity about pseudoscientific woo like “faith healing” is by no means limited to conservatives and/or Republicans.

#13

I don’t know what John of God’s politics are, but he appears to be a shrewd businessman.

Aside from “donations” to his spiritual healing ministry, he reportedly makes a decent living selling herbs - specifically a passiflora preparation which (coincidentally) his own company makes. What with sales of various “blessed” artifacts, he reportedly earns over $10 million dollars a year from that angle alone.

Sample from John of God’s website:

*"Distant Healing with a photo. Distant Healing is done by photo submission to the Casa. The Entity who looks at your picture can scan your energy from the photo. For adults, the entity will always give you herbs. It will be passiflora, in capsule form, that will be energized for your problem specifically. The herbs will be sent to the address you put in your email address. John of God and the entities can help with everything…

Current NEWS. July 6 2018. The entiites have made changes to the Distant Healing Protocol. There are now 80 days (versus the prior 40) worth of herbs @ 1 tablet twice a day. The cost of the herbs is reflecting this change of 80 days worth of herbs and has not increased. This will save on repeat postage and mail delays which is a great help to getting the herbs to you as fast as possible.

PLEASE NOTE: ALL CANADIANS MUST USE THE EXPRESS COURIER SERVICE. It is $61 US = £44

Buy herbs for £110 (UK STERLING)

We recommed using the courier as there may sometimes be a delay of up to 4-6 weeks for the herbs to reach you. Courier is $55 USA additional and must be used by all Canadians.

£110 = $145 USA."*

And while Oprah’s website has chucked John of God references down the memory hole, he’s still promoting her validation of his work on his own site.

Other note: John of God had a malignant stomach tumor diagnosed some years ago. Strangely, he didn’t undergo psychic surgery to remove the tumor - he had the traditional kind, plus chemotherapy. An online follower explains that John of God only keeps quiet about his use of mainstream medicine because, well, he doesn’t like to talk about himself. :slight_smile:

#14

All right, out of respect I will just drop it.

How about the lesson we take from this is that we assume that Anyone who promotes a story of talking snakes, faith healing and so on is a charlatan from the start, instead of waiting for some great crime or act of hypocrisy?