I forgive you, Stranger
I was going to write an in depth blog post today about the person who tried to get me sacked because of the complaint I made to the ASA recently. Despite not publishing anywhere on the internet where I work, and ensuring I didn’t bring the name of my employers into the situation in anyway, this stranger saw it fit to make a complaint with the malicious intention of getting me into as much trouble as possible. It was a very upsetting experience as I am very dedicated to my job and love what I do for a living.
What I do outside of work has nothing to do what I do within work. I was going to write out how malicious this was of them, how unchristian of them it was, and how pointless it was too.
However, I decided not to, because I forgive them. Which is funny, considering I’m an immoral atheist, and all that…
Healing claims being made across the UK
I didn’t know that ‘Healing on the Streets’ (HOTS) was as widespread a group in the UK as it is. I did a search on Facebook a day or so ago and found dozens of branches of HOTS who operate in their local areas. It turns out that they may be making similar claims to those the Bath group were, that the ASA ruled were in breach of CAP codes.
SkepticBarista brought my attention to an encounter he has had today with the ‘Healing on the Streets’ group in Loughborough. He says:
Just seen these people out on the streets of Loughborough. As far as I know they plan on turning up on 1st Sat of every month. A woman gave me a leaflet with healing claims (Cancer, addictions, blindness, deafness + others).
I had see the ASA adjudication. She tried to take the leaflet back (Failed!) saying that their solicitor had said it was OK as they had some different text at the bottom. Checked with the leaflet I was given before Xmas, it’s all the same.
The text is certainly not a disclaimer and the whole leaflet will be with sent to the ASA.
It’s a bit worrying that these claims are still being made, and that the groups solicitor seems to think it’s ok. The ASA asdjustication stated the Bath advert must not reappear in it’s current form, and as you can clearly see from the image comparisons below, they are very similar with near identical claims being made.
I think it is worth people keeping an eye out for these claims being made in their local areas. You can easily submit a complaint to the ASA if you think claims like the ones that were adjudicated against are being made. Whether it’s Christians, Jews, Atheists, Muslims or Jedi’s making the claim – the claims are still irresponsible, and my complaint to the ASA about these claims was successful. I think there is a bigger impact to be had (& remember, you don’t have to ‘come out’ as the complainant as I did).
The ASA adjudication states:
HOTS offered to amend their ads to state “We believe God can heal” and “See God heal the sick” or “Pray for the sick”, to include the words “We believe” in any references to healing, to include a prominent reference to medical treatment on their website, and to remove the leaflet from their website.
However, the ASA did not find this a sufficient adjustment, stating:
We acknowledged that HOTS had offered to make amendments to the ads, and to remove the leaflet from their website. However, we considered that their suggested amendments were not sufficient for the ads to comply with the CAP Code.
I’m not suggesting people should only be targeting HOTS groups. There are other individuals and groups who make dangerous and misleading claims too. In the past I have complained about psychic surgeons and homeopaths too (proof surely I’m not out to target the religious?) but this is a group who make their presence well know and, in the fact of the adjudication, are still blatantly making claims they probably ought not to be.
‘but atheist Hayley Stevens…’
I recently wrote about the complaint I made to the ASA about a group of people who were making claims about treating specific illnesses through prayer. Since writing my blog post it was picked up by the media and just… well… exploded.
Bath Chronicle | Fox News | Daily Mail | BBC News | Western Daily Press
I know there is more coverage to come as I have had to turn down numerous interviews. Out of the above, the reporter from the Western Daily Press was the only one to contact me and speak to me which enabled me to explain my side of the story to him before he wrote about me. The following day (yesterday) as I watched all of these other news sites pick up on the story without getting in touch I had an email from Callum Watkinson from ITV Westcountry to ask if I would film a piece for the news that evening. So, on my lunch break I met him in the centre of Bradford on Avon and was able to talk about why I make the complaint.
I managed to film the news report with my phone, you can watch it here if you want, but it’s poor quality. It was a fair, balanced report which I am grateful for.
I will write about this whole fiasco at some point in the future, but right now I’m busy studying. Thank you for those who’ve been understanding.
Healing on the Streets & why I am not ‘a group generally opposed to Christianity’
Last year on a visit to the city Bath I became aware of a group of people who called themselves ‘Healing on the Streets” (HOTS) who were outside the cathedral, offering to help people with various illnesses be healed by god.
It was concerning but I didn’t think much of it at the time as I was distracted. A few weeks later a conversation I was having about healing reminded about the group and I decided to check out their website for more details on what they do and how they operate.
I was quite concerned at the claims I found there about illnesses and conditions that this group seemed to be promoting as healable through prayer. At the same time I became conflicted about what to do next because I knew that no matter what I did, I would be accused by people of being anti-religious.
However, as time passed I saw the group at work again, and I also became aware of their Youtube videos in which even more claims were made, and I realised that I didn’t feel comfortable with not expressing my concern to people who might be able to do something about the claims if they agreed something was wrong. That’s when I made the complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority using the ‘Fishbarrel’ plug in.
You can read the complaint details in the ASA adjudication report published on their website here. I am glad that the ASA could see my points and agreed that the claims could certainly be perceived as a last hope for those with serious illness.
I thought twice about making it known that I was the person who had made the complaint because in the past I have been harassed by those I’ve made complaints against, and with this group being based on Bath they’re very close to home. Yet the reaction from HOTS Bath has made me decide against remaining anonymous simply so that I can answer the accusations raised in a frankly bizarre statement on their website.
We are disappointed with the ASA’s decision, and will appeal against it because 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.
The ASA has even demanded that we sign a document agreeing not to say this, which is unacceptable to us – as it no doubt would be for anyone ordered not to make certain statements about their conventional religious or philosophical beliefs.
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.
Over that time the response to what we do has been overwhelmingly positive, and we find it difficult to understand the ASA’s attempt to restrict communication about this. Our website simply states our beliefs and describes some of our experiences.
We tried to reach a compromise, recognising some of the ASA’s concerns, but there are certain things that we cannot agree to – including a ban on expressing our beliefs.
It appears that the complaint to the ASA was made by a group generally opposed to Christianity, and it seems strange to us that on the basis of a purely ideological objection to what we say on our website, the ASA has decided it is appropriate to insist that we cannot talk about a common and widely held belief that is an important aspect of conventional Christian faith.
The cost of an opinion
What is the cost of an opinion?
It could be a libel case with hundreds of thousands of pounds, or perhaps a smear campaign online trying to discredit you.
It could be nastier – you could be threatened with violence by your peers, your job could be threatened with a well placed and malicious complaint, or perhaps you will be told that someone knows where you live and will kill your family.
This is nothing new, people are often harassed for speaking out against the religions and belief-systems of others, or for doing or saying things that offend the traditions of other people. People have even been killed, imprisoned, harassed, stalked, beaten up, abused and more.
Yet atheists, secularists, non-believers, doubters, agnostics… they don’t go away. They don’t shut up. They don’t stop trying, they don’t stop speaking out, they never will.
Threaten to beat your school peers up, burn effigies, intimidate people by stopping their meetings, get books banned, try to rule other peoples lives through politics, but don’t ever expect those who doubt, who think, who speak out, to go away.
The cost of an opinion is high, it’s risky, but it’s never not worth it.
#atheistandproud
*I am aware that I live in an area where I wont be lynched for being atheist so it’s ‘easy’ for me to write, this, but I do so to show support for those currently being targeted by bigots.
God is not great
When I was young my mum told me that being naughty and telling lies would put a black mark on my soul, so that god could see it. I now know my mother doesn’t believe this to be true, but for a good while I thought it was fact and I was scared. At school I would be forced to sit on my left hand because I am left handed and my teachers often thought this was blasphemous. I was ashamed. I’m not anymore.
As I grew older I learned that my father was something called ‘atheist’ and that he didn’t believe in god. It blew my little mind that someone could be so defiant. I was a child who had been brought up in an environment where religion was normal and the existence of god unquestioned.
To suddenly learn that my own father didn’t believe in any of it was eye opening. I think I was about nine or ten at the time. It also scared me because he didn’t think those who have died are still around in heaven. Up until that point I had believed that everybody went to heaven or hell – the idea that this was false was deeply troubling, but the question had already been placed in my mind and the doubt started to build – eventually resulting in me realising that I too was atheist. It was a long struggle because my father doesn’t talk about his non-belief. I wish he had because it would have helped, but what’s done is done.
Check it out…
