Healing on the Streets

There's an organisation called Healing on the Streets (HOTS) that puts chairs out on the pavement so people can come and be prayed over.

The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) has banned adverts by the Bath branch of HOTS that offered healing through prayer.

The HOTS website stated "Our vision is to Promote Christian Healing as a daily life style for every believer, through demonstration, training and equipping. We are working in unity, from numerous churches outside the four walls of the building, In order to Heal the sick ".

The ASA ruled that 'A video on the website made claims that HOTS volunteers had successfully prayed for healing for people with cancer, fibromyalgia, back pain, kidney pain, hip pain, cataracts, arthritis and paralysis. We noted the testimonials on the website and in the video but considered that testimonials were insufficient as evidence for claims of healing. We therefore concluded the ads were misleading'.

The ASA also 'noted we had not seen evidence that people had been healed through the prayer of HOTS volunteers, and concluded that the ads could encourage false hope in those suffering from the named conditions and therefore were irresponsible. 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.'

The ASA were concerned that 'the ads could discourage people, and particularly the vulnerable or those suffering from undiagnosed symptoms, from seeking essential treatment for medical conditions for which medical supervision should be sought.'

HOTS - Bath have stated that they will appeal against the decision. Their defence is that 'All over the world as part of their normal Christian life, Christians believe in, pray for and experience God's healing. 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'.

They also comment "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 ASA adjudication is not an ideological objection, nor a restriction on their right to freedom of expression. They also claimed that they were being targeted by 'a group generally opposed to Christianity' whereas the truth is they were reported by one person, Hayley Stephens.

This is not a case of a religious group spreading the Good Word, which it is entitled to do, whether anyone likes it or not. It is a case of them promoting a 'service' that can have serious consequences. The ASA adjudication that they are 'misleading and irresponsible' was a scientific, evidence-based action to protect vulnerable people from unproven (and unproveable) claims.

There have been countless examples of people not taking medication and relying on prayer to cure them, sometimes with fatal results, for example here and here.

There is no conclusive evidence at all that prayer can cure what science cannot and no impartial scientific evaluation of these claims. There is no empirically tested, randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blinded, peer-reviewed evidence. There is scientific evidence that prayer does not cure and that it can even make some conditions worse. At best, prayer provides a placebo - which may work when pain is involved but does not cure a cold, let alone cataracts or cancer.

And by the way, it's illegal to claim to cure cancer according to the Cancer Act 4.1.(a) 8.

One of the testimonials on the website claimed that someone had been cured of having one leg longer than the other. This is a classic faith healing claim. Derren Brown and others have shown how the 'cure' is done.

Although the ASA adjudication means that they can't use their current adverts, prayer is still their core activity. They will still offer prayer cures to people with serious conditions and to target the vulnerable. What they do is not the same as praying with ill people as a way of comforting them or taking their minds off a difficult situation.

HOTS- Bath is a registered charity. Although healing is not stated as one of their charitable objects, it is clear from the website that it is their main objective and activity, one of the non-specified ‘Services’ HOTS provides as part of its claim for charitable status. In order to be a registered charity, a group has to prove that it benefits society. According to the Charities Act, the 'advancement of religion' is one of the 'public benefits'.

The National Secular Society, where I work, has reported them to the Charity Commission.

Some people argue that there's no point going after the small fry. HOTS-Bath's accounts show that they make very little money from their activities, for example. But as other campaigners have said - think global, act local. The story was covered in the local paper and the NSS covered it on their website, so if even a few people question what HOTS are doing or the concept of prayer healing, that's a start. Not everyone has the time, energy or inclination to take on the Scientologists, the Church, litigious mediums or the alt med industry. Old-school grassroots action works. A complaint to the ASA or Charity Commission, a letter to the local paper - even a conversation in the pub - can have positive consequences.

HOTS-Bath operate outside Bath Abbey. They say they will be back there on Thursday March 1 from 11am to 1pm.

Updated 7 February 2012
Brendan O’Neill has written in the Telegraph about HOTS that the ASA ruling is ‘an outrageous attack on freedom of religion’ and that ‘policing the expression of an inner conviction, of a profound belief in the healing qualities of God, is ludicrous and authoritarian’.

He accuses the ASA of becoming a ‘Secular Inquisition’ and claims that ‘modern-day secularists betray the values of the Enlightenment’.

There is a big difference between standing up in the pulpit or even in the street and saying ‘God heals’, and making specific healing claims. The first is freedom of expression, the second is making unsubstantiated claims to be an alternative medicine of the most supernatural kind.

O’Neill has no problem with ‘monitoring health claims in TV commercials’ or ‘keeping a check on the scientific claims made by businesses in their ads’ but wants religious claims to have a special status. It’s a kind of noli me tangere - touch me not – argument. The Enlightenment was about rational, scientific values, not just, as he claims, about keeping the civil government out of religious affairs. He’s cherry picking and twisting the meaning of the Enlightenment to defend the indefensible.

With freedom of expression increasingly under attack at the moment, these bogus claims of its infringement should not be allowed to confuse issues. Even the Telegraph printed a counter-argument.

If your God cures, prove it. Put up or shut up.

God Squad

Evening all. Constable George Dixon with you again.

Last month I told you about the Home Office giving the Christian Police Association £10,000 to fight crime with the power of prayer.

This month, there's more on prayer and policework. Inspector Roger Bartlett of Devon and Cornwall police has said that he is 'convinced' faith has a positive effect on policing. And he has proof. Let's take a look at that while I have my tea break.

Bartlett said he has seen "many direct answers to prayer in the workplace" from its positive impact on potentially violent incidents to reducing road deaths.

"I have seen a number of specific answers to (...) prayers – like the unprecedented Halloween night in the town when the police did not have to attend a single incident of disorder, or the prolific serial dwelling burglar who, after a significant series of offences, was apprehended in very unusual circumstances within three days of that group praying that he would trip up and be caught."

I'm just a humble bobby on the beat but even I know that just because one thing happens and then another thing, there is no necessary link between them. Only this morning, Mrs Dixon gave me a peck on the cheek as I was leaving the house and and said she hoped I had a good day on the beat (bless her). Later on, I was able to direct a woman who'd lost her way to the Post Office. Now, I could say that these two events were connected, cause and effect. Mrs Dixon's good wishes helped me do my job. But the boys at the station would give me a very queer look if I did. And quite right too.

It's not unknown for police to catch criminals and three days is quite a long time. Is there some sort of statute of limitations for prayers? What if the burglar had been caught after two weeks?

Inspector Bartlett has more of this 'evidence': "In 2007, I asked the [prayer] group to pray for the local detection rate, particularly in the Barnstaple sector, which was at about 26 per cent of total crime and one of the poorest in the force area and meant that justice, in too many cases, was not being done.

"Every quarter since that time, there has been an increase in that figure, despite reductions in the overall crime rate to the point that Barnstaple currently has a detection rate of just over 40 per cent of total crime, which is one of the highest in the country".

My son in law, Detective Andy Crawford, is a bright lad. He tells me there is a thing called reversion to norm. It's like having a lucky streak that runs out. Sooner or later, a run of wins becomes a run of loses or the other way round. He says that low detection rates could get better because of this too. Who knows? The thing is, there's no need to jump to the conclusion that prayer did it when there could be a perfectly ordinary, non-supernatural explanation. Andy says that's called Occam's Razor - go for the simplest explanation as it's most likely to be the right one.

It also occurred to me that if the overall crime rate is falling then the police are likely to clear up a bigger percentage of crimes anyway as there are fewer to solve. If there are 100 crimes and they solve 10, that's a 10% success rate. If there are 50 crimes and they still solve ten, that's a 20% success rate. An increase of 100%! But Inspector Bartlett is having none of that, even though he does give a nod to the boys in blue.

"Of course, that is down to some fantastic local policing, but the prayers I hear from Christians are for officers to be good at their job and implement practices that will lead to offenders being brought to account and victims seeing justice done. Clearly, many who do not have the faith I have would say that this is just coincidence, but the increase in that figure is so marked that it is indeed 'some coincidence'."

They might say it was just coincidence or they might say there were perfectly ordinary explanations. But not for Bartlett: "From my experience, the more I pray, the more 'coincidences' I seem to see."

The other day Mrs Dixon mentioned that our neighbourhood was being over-run with dogs lately. She doesn't like dogs. I decided to do what the boffins in forensics call an experiment. Every day for a whole week, I looked out for dogs while on the beat around Dock Green. And do you know, I spotted twenty three of them. The week before, I didn't see any. Or at least I don't remember seeing any. But then, I wasn't looking for them. It seems to me that the more you look for something, the more you see it and the more significant it becomes. Especially if you've decided in advance what your conclusion will be. I should say that there was a local dog show on the Green on Saturday. I also saw twenty seven cats, but I ignored them.

Inspector Bartlett doesn't stop there. He goes on that "probably the most significant answer to prayer" he experienced related to a fall in the number of serious road accidents in North Devon. He explained: "I presented to the [prayer] group a significant rise in northern Devon of the number of casualties killed or seriously injured on the roads and asked them to pray for this number to come down."

After the request, incidents fell from 97 in 2007-8 to 32 in 2008-9. "Not only was this a 67 per cent reduction on the previous year, and a far greater fall than any other area of the force, it was also more than 50 per cent lower than the next lowest annual figure locally (66). On this occasion, I am not sure we can make the same link between this reduction and 'good police work' as the figure is well beyond the control of even the best traffic officers that I know."

He's saying that the reduction in RTAs could not possibly have been down to the police, or any other earthly factor. It has to be the power of prayer. That's quite a claim. Detective Andy says he'd like to see a list of all the crimes and accidents logged in the area, a list of the ones prayed for and those that weren't, and the clear-up rates for both. And a list of crimes, accidents and arrests in another area where no one was praying, over a couple of years, to see if they had ups and downs too. Remarkable claims require remarkable evidence, he says.

On the Devon and Cornwall Christian Police website, Bartlett says that 'As a Police officer I am absolutely convinced, that the evidence for the life, death and resurrection of Jesus is overwhelming'. He can believe what he likes but 'as a police officer' evidence has a bit of a different meaning to the way he's using it. It does to me, anyway.

This doesn't seem to me like a copper encouraging good community relations. It seems like one bobby who needs reminding that police work is about solid, testable evidence that will stand up in court. There doesn't seem much point in us wearing out our shoe leather and spending all that money on new-fangled things like DNA testing when a quick prayer can do the job. But what do I know? Perhaps Andy can explain it to me.

Tea break's over. Back to the beat.

Adopt a Cop

Evening all. Police Constable George Dixon here to report more rum doings at Dock Green. The Home Office has given the Christian Police Association(CPA) £10,000 to fight crime with the power of prayer.

The CoAct Adopt A Cop project will fund Christians and police working together in the community.

A CPA co-ordinator at each police station tells churches what needs praying about and CoAct have also issued a list of general guidelines that include praying for:

• Neighbourhood police officers
• Success in preventing and detecting crime
• Catching offenders
• Sick and injured officers
• Officers to resist corruption and to be able to relax when they're off duty
• Local streets or housing estates plagued by crime
• A reduction in crime

A spokesman for the CPA said: 'There is circumstantial evidence to suggest that prayer might help reduce crime and community tension'.

Circumstantial evidence is not far removed from magical thinking aka post hoc ergo propter hoc reasoning, making a direct link between two unconnected events. For example, I wore my purple pants to a job interview and got the job therefore the purple pants helped me get the job and are henceforth lucky pants. Or, the police arrive at a crime scene to find a dead body with a woman kneeling by it holding a bloody knife and arrest her for murder on no other evidence. This is not the kind of policing we at Dock Green were trained to carry out. As an experienced bobby with many years on the beat, I certainly would not stand up before the beak with such 'evidence'.

The executive director of the CPA, Don Axcell, offers up his 'evidence': 'In one particular area, an officer was investigating an incident but he had not been able to apprehend a suspect. He encouraged a church to pray and within days a suspect had been arrested and charged. In another area, an officer encouraged churches to pray about domestic burglary and over the year it came down by 30 per cent.'

He does add ' We do not discount good police work, which is why we call it circumstantial evidence' but his meaning of 'circumstantial' appears different from everyone else's.

So which is it, prayer or good old fashioned coppering? The CPA are in no doubt. The CoAct website says: 'Pray for your police. Prayer is the key, powerful and changes things. It is the slender nerve which moves the hand of God and we are asking him to intervene in our community'. According to them, 'prayer undergirds action and forms part of an holistic Christian response to crime reduction'.

Ah, holistic policing. So much better than the regular sort. Undergirding is what a jock strap or Wonder Bra does.

Are the CPA aware that there is strong evidence (none of it circumstantial) that praying for sick people does not help them and, in fact, can make them worse and impair their recovery? If a church prays for a particular officer to catch a villain and he fails, whose fault is it? Did they not pray hard enough or was it part of His Mysterious Plan that the perp walked?

Why would God give special help only to those boys (and girls) in blue who were prayed for? Does He not care about the others? What happens at stations where there is no CPA member to set up the Prayer Force?

There has been no attempt to test this 'evidence'. No control group who are not prayed for or who do not know whether they're being prayed for or not. For good measure, they should perhaps also have a group of bobbies who have been cursed to see if they do significantly worse. Attributing a 30% fall in domestic burglaries to the power of prayer fails to take into account any other factor that might have caused the drop.

Encouraging local communities to support the police is no bad thing. But quite apart from the unscientific thinking going on here, there are other religious police groups who have not, so far, received any money. There are Muslim, Hindu, Sikh and even Pagan Police Associations. Perhaps they have no 'evidence' that their prayers reduce crime figures. Perhaps the Home Office has confused the Chief Constable with the Man in the Sky. Or perhaps God is in fact a supernatural coppers' nark.

Giving money just to the CPA is likely to create division between different sections of the Force. There seems to have been little or no thought about how this will make non-Christian officers at a police station feel when their colleagues are singled out for special treatment. Officers who have no belief at all are expected to work alongside those who think that supernatural power is helping them.

One officer said: 'It's like asking the Fairy Godmother to bring in all the criminals on the run'. The fact that he or she didn't want to be named does not bode well for this divisive and ill-conceived project. A project, let's not forget, which is funded by the tax payer.

Doctor Jesus - The Franchise

Coming soon to a town near you – healing through the power of prayer.

A group called The Healing Rooms is spreading its tentacles across the UK. The Starbucks of faith healing, their mission statement is:

We have a vision to see every town and city in England with at least one Healing Room and many Healing Rooms in larger cities. This is part of a wider vision to see Healing Rooms set in around the world. The first IAHR Healing Room in the UK opened in Halifax, West Yorkshire at the end of January 2003. There are now 50 registered IAHR Healing Rooms in England and if you include those in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland the total is 79 Healing Rooms in the UK. Worldwide there are just over 1,000 Healing Rooms in 47 nations all linked together through IAHR.

The parent organisation, the International Association of Healing Rooms is based in America.

They were brought to my attention at work by someone who had seen the glowing article in his local paper, the Wee County News, on 7 October 2009, about a branch opening in Moncrieff Church, Alloa.

IAHR claims include the usual gamut of minor afflictions as well as curing cancer, HIV, ME, asbestosis and restoring a liver. Testimonies from the London branch include these cancer cure claims:

I am giving a testimony on behalf of my sister who received her healing from cancer. I used to come to the Healing rooms every week to pray for her when she was diagnosed and to the glory of God she is healed and completely free. I believe that God answers prayers, all we have to do is to ask and I am living proof. There is nothing too difficult for Him and with Him all things are possible. All the doctors in South Africa where she was receiving treatment were completely amazed by her recovery. She has gone for several other check-ups and no tumor is found.

and

I was diagnosed with cancer over 11 years ago. In Dec 2005 I had a body scan and was told that there were 3 tiny nodules in my left lung and many lesions throughout the vertebral bodies and pelvis. I have been going to the Healing Rooms for nearly a year and I am very pleased with the result I have today. God is good to me and has answered my prayer. The last report I had was really good and my consultant is very impressed. He told me the body scan showed no evidence of bony metastases. I feel very well in myself and praise God daily. Thank you Jesus, for you are the same yesterday today and forevermore. You are the greatest healer. A big thank you to the Healing room staff for their patience and love.

There is also this oddity:

I came on Wednesday evening and the welcome was very loving . I had prayer and my lower back and crushed disc was healed and my right leg grew 1.5 inches and I no longer have any pain. It is so wonderful, no pain, peace at last. God is wonderful, thank you Jesus. I have been so blessed my family relationships have improved and my brother phoned me after 2 years.

Doctor Jesus made this man’s leg grow one and a half inches. That's an observable and quantifiable effect. There is no mention of whether the leg was measured by a doctor before and after prayer, of course. And how nice that Doctor Jesus also got his brother to call. They must have been praying extra hard that night.

Healing Rooms also have something called a Prayer Cloth:

In Acts 19:11-12, it speaks of how cloths (aprons and handkerchiefs) were touched by Peter and Paul and taken back to the sick who were often cured of their ills. It says that "God gave Paul the power to do unusual miracles, so that even when handkerchiefs or cloths that had touched his skin were placed on sick people, they were healed of their diseases, and any evil spirits within them came out." (The New Living Translation) The cloths are anointed with oil and prayed over by our intercessors before we mail them out to you.

Testimonials for this include:

A prayer cloth was sent to a man in Australia who had Asbestosis, for which there is no cure. When he received the cloth he put it on his chest. On his next visit to the doctor, he was told that all traces of Asbestosis have now gone - he is completely healed.

If these cloths worked, the NHS would be mighty interested as it would save them an awful lot of money. In fact, why not get rid of all the doctors and nurses and just hire Healing Rooms to service the entire UK? Oh right, you only get healed if your faith is sufficiently strong. That rules out all the non-Christians. Doctor Jesus is a private practitioner. Or maybe it's not part of His Great Plan to cure you. Who knows? He moves in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform.

From the Scottish branch claims include:

Danny was waiting to go to hospital to have an arm amputated from the elbow as he had no feeling or movement in it and nothing could be done to save the arm. After prayer his hand began to tingle and move and he can now clench his fist and move all his fingers. No amputation will now be needed!

He will no doubt be using that hand to put against the other one in prayer.

And there are many more testimonies on the American site.

Not only do IAHR claim to heal any number of problems through prayer, they also train people to heal. So if you want a new hobby, pop yourself along to one of their centres and you can set up your very own franchise. I'm not sure why you have to go along to the Healing Rooms to get fixed - does Doctor Jesus not make house calls?

As I mentioned in my Doctor Jesus post about Body of Christ International Ministries, as soon as a claimed cure for cancer is spotted, the alarms go off because such claims are in contravention of the BCAP code of practice 50.27 viz Marketers should not falsely claim that a product is able to cure illness, dysfunction or malformations and also the Cancer Act 4.1.(a) 8:

No person shall take any part in the publication of any advertisement—

(a)containing an offer to treat any person for cancer, or to prescribe any remedy therefor, or to give any advice in connection with the treatment thereof;

(8) In this section the expression “advertisement” includes any notice, circular, label, wrapper or other document, and any announcement made orally or by any means of producing or transmitting sounds

For this and other reasons detailed in the Doctor Jesus post, I have reported them to Trading Standards and the ASA.

For every group making a claim that the ASA rules against, more spring up. They are hydra-headed and the more canny ones make no actionable promises or claims. But it's important to keep chipping away and to publicize the facts about faith healing - that there is NO EVIDENCE AT ALL that it has anything more than a placebo effect at best. That's NO EVIDENCE AT ALL.

Of course, if you have faith, then evidence is nothing. Proof is nothing. Facts are nothing. It's a miracle, praise Jesus and pass the collection plate. You can't put a price tag on the Love of God but there's no such thing as a free miracle.

It doesn't take long to fill in the Advertising Standards Authority complaints form or to send an email to your local Trading Standards office.

In the words of eco-campaigners: think global, act local.

And if you'd like to know more about the Alloa branch, you can ring local director Elaine McDonagh on 07742 175 453 or email alloa@healingrooms-scotland.com.

Doctor Jesus - Struck Off

Last month (October 09) I reported the Body of Christ International Ministries to the Advertising Standards Authority for their leaflet claiming to cure cancer, arthritis and an enlarged heart through the power of prayer.

The ASA has now contacted me to say that the BCIM have agreed to stop distributing the leaflet and will not make the same claims in any future leaflets.

This is just a tiny blow against the army of religious groups making dangerous, misleading and unscientific claims but it's important to keep chipping away at them, to let them know that they are being watched. They will no doubt try other tactics to lure people in. It's also important to explain to people why they should not trust these claims, however desperate they are.

BCIM - God is watching you and so are we.

Doctor Jesus

Have you had enough of pain or illness? Have the doctors given up on you? Come to Doctor Jesus.

So says the flier being spread around Manchester at the moment by the Body of Christ International Ministries. Thanks to James Robinson for alerting me.

It also says:

HEALED!

A lady diagnosed with an enlarged heart was miraculously healed after she prayed for a couple of times. Hallelujah Jesus healed her!

HEALED!

This lady had suffered from hip arthritis for many years. The doctors said that it was due to old age and that nothing could be done. After prayer, she felt the pain leaving her. The next day there was no more pain in her hips, she could squat, ride her bicycle and walk in high heel shoes without pain.

HEALED!

Cancer Disappears!

A lump in the throat of a lady that the doctors believed was cancerous disappeared after she was prayed for in the name of Jesus. Doctors did several examinations and could not find the lump in her throat anymore. Glory to God! Lump disappeared! Cancer disappeared! Operation cancelled!

All three of these claims are possibly in contravention of the BCAP code of practice 50.27:

Marketers should not falsely claim that a product is able to cure illness, dysfunction or malformations.

It could be argued that prayer is not a product and Jesus is not a brand, despite the aggressive marketing. But they don't weasel out that easily because there is the Cancer Act, which would cover the third claim.

Section 4.1(a) 8 of the Act states that:

No person shall take any part in the publication of any advertisement -

(a)containing an offer to treat any person for cancer, or to prescribe any remedy therefor, or to give any advice in connection with the treatment thereof;

(8) In this section the expression 'advertisement' includes any notice, circular, label, wrapper or other document, any any announcement made orally or by any means of producing or transmitting sounds.

There is no conclusive evidence at all that prayer can cure. The US government has spent $2.2 million dollars over 5 years studying the effect of distance healing (prayer). Apparently positive results have proved flawed and in some cases people who knew they were being prayed for did worse - possibly because they thought they if they were being prayed for they must be on their last legs.

At best, acts of faith can have a placebo effect - which has been shown to work on pain but absolutely not to work in curing serious medical conditions. This would explain why the woman in the flier with painful arthritis was (allegedly) able to squat, ride a bike and wear high heels. All at the same time in some sort of circus act, I hope.

As to the woman with the enlarged heart, there is no mention of whether she was receiving medical treatment at the same time, which might just have done the job. For that matter, there's no mention either of whether Cancer Lady was having chemo. Ah, right - that's because Doctor Jesus did it. Hallelujah.

There is never any follow-up of people who have allegedly been cured or evidence of doctor's reports before and after the miracle. Even the Vatican, which is hardly the most scientifically rigourous of bodies, is very careful about accrediting miracle cures at Lourdes these days because they are aware of placebo and of the consequences of making unsubstantiated claims - in terms of bad publicity, if nothing else.

If Jesus can cure, why does he need to advertise? Why does he need the all-singing, all-dancing BCIM Healing Nights? Why can't he just cure anyone who prays to him? Why does he cure some but not others? Best not go there... Yes, let's go there. Because he does not exist and even if he did, anyone sitting at home praying and getting cured would not be fattening the coffers of the BCIM. By the way, if you're not cured, it's because your faith is not strong enough or because your suffering is part of God's Mysterious Plan. Not because the product is faulty. Nice.

This is a dangerous and misleading advert, suggesting that prayer can accomplish what science cannot. It may give people false hope or stop them seeking medical advice - or not until it's too late. People who are seriously ill or have a chronic condition can understandably be very vulnerable to being exploited and misled. That's how a lot of 'alternative' therapies operate.

The flier also says:

The testimonies speak for themselves!

No. Empirically tested, placebo-controlled, double-blinded, peer-reviewed evidence speaks for itself.

As to the 'science doesn't know everything' defence: it's not how much you know, it's how you know it. That's know rather than believe. Facts not faith.

I have reported them to the ASA.

Hallelujah.

UPDATE 12 October 2009

I also reported them to Manchester Trading Standards who contacted me today to say that MTS has 'advised' the Pastor both by phone and in writing about the Cancer Act and 'advised him not to distribute leaflets with such claims in future'.

We shall see.

UPDATE

See more here on the ASA ruling.