 the
Skeptic's Dictionary Newsletter
40
April 14, 2004
"The aim of science is not to open the door to everlasting wisdom but to
set a limit on everlasting error." --Bertolt Brecht
Sai Baba
I received the following disturbing letter from a retired mathematics
teacher who for many years was a follower of Sai Baba. The evidence is very
strong that this Indian guru who has been faking miracles for years, has
also been molesting boys. So far, he has not been charged with any crimes.
There is a petition on the Internet asking for an investigation into these
allegations. I ask you to please sign the petition. It is at
www.petitiononline.com/saibaba
Here is the letter:
Dear R. T. Carroll,
Please consider my following personal story regarding Sathya Sai Baba (SSB
). My purpose is to give out this info in a most loving way as possible.
Allow me to introduce myself. I am a retired math/science teacher who was
an ardent devotee of SSB for 27 years and active in the SBB Org in the U.S.
for 20 years. This included holding offices in a SSB center and attending
SSB services and study groups on a weekly basis. Furthermore, I have been
called into interviews by SSB at his ashram in India, read his official
monthly publication, Sanathana Sarathi, for about 15 years. and have
attended at least 20 SSB conferences/retreats.
During the month of June, 2000, I was devastated to learn of the sexual
molestations of a young friend of mine from Arkansas by SSB. At that time I
was a member of the successful SSB Center of Dallas.
It is an irony that I had been acquainted with the family involved for
over 15 years when I heard this very disturbing news. SSB had engaged in sex
with the boy over 20 times during about a 4 year period. The prominent U K
newspaper THE DAILY TELEGRAPH was one of the first publications to print
this story.
When I was faced with this scandal, some prominent devotees and officers
were resigning from the South Central (SSB) Region of the U.S. I decided to
conduct a slow and careful investigation. I got on the phone and made calls
all over the world talking to victims, and parents and friends of
victims..... What influenced me most was the pattern of the many cases
involved. (For example, first the oilings, then maybe just a touching or
probing, and then finally the unthinkable.......)
One of the most disturbing accounts of sexual abuse in the U.S. involves
a 15 year old boy (now 19) who attended the Hemet Sai center of southern
California. A personal friend, Glen Meloy of Palm Desert, Calif, relayed the
story to me by phone.
The 15 year old was known to keep a diary especially when he traveled. In
fact, the family had published notes from previous trips in pamphlet form.
It is revealed that the boy, who was taught from birth that SSB was God, was
abused by SSB on 2 consecutive days during Sept, 1999.
The mother had noticed that her son was acting strangely. She did
something rarely, if ever, done before--read the boy's journal without his
permission........The first person who received a photo copy of the diary
from India was Glen Meloy, a retired management consultant and high profile
SSB for 26 years. Mr Meloy was "looked up to" and very much respected by the
family involved.
In hindsight, there are many contradictions or "red flags" which I "put
on a shelf" when a devotee. For example, there had been evidence that SSB
cheated when materializing objects. I admit, however, that paranormal
activity surrounds him.. He proved to me his power to 'imprint on people's
perception' during my visit of the summer of 1987..... So much more could be
said such as SSB's complicity in the murder of four young men in his
apartment during the summer of 1993. Furthermore, SSB claims to be the
FATHER WHO SENT JESUS CHRIST ON EARTH and the greatest divine incarnation
ever. And according to my investigations, there exits solid evidence of a
cover-up by the Sai Org. in the US since 1976.
Lest you think I am a lone voice in the wilderness, please check a few
web sites of former devotees such as exbaba.com , saiguru.net or home.no.net/anir/Sai/
By the way, here are the Urls for a recent expose' update of a former
lecturer at on of SSB's colleges, Barry Pittard. It reflects tremendous work
done by many. www.saiguru.net/english/news/030925index.htm
home.hetnet.nl/~ex_baba/engels/articles/barryexposeupdate.html
Would you, as a person engaged in a spiritual area, kindly respond to
these very proper, genuine, and persisting concerns? I don't think anyone
wants to directly or indirectly be the cause of a young boy being molested
by SSB! Nor do I think that a Sathya Sai Organization member would wish
forever to be branded with the reputation for failure of duty of care and
compassion for those many reputable persons who have reported such
allegations to its leading officials over many years. Shouldn't people at
least be told that there are allegations!? And why can't there be at least
an official investigation? Your ideas are most welcomed.
Dennis J Hanisch
Former SSB Devotee of 27 Years
***
Note to AOL subscribers
I received a number of notices that AOL subscribers did not receive the
last newsletter because it contained a URL that AOL deemed was spam. I have
reviewed the newsletter and have no idea which URL was filtered by AOL. I
tried to send the above letter to Michael Shermer at his AOL address and it
kept getting bounced for the same reason. I stripped all URLs and the mail
went through. So, if you are an AOL subscriber, you may not get your
Skeptic's Dictionary Newsletter delivered to your mailbox.
Secondhand smoke
Penn and Teller were challenged at James Randi's TAM2 last January
regarding their show that claimed the studies on secondhand smoke were
bogus. P & T stood by their researchers and asked the challenger to send
them the evidence, if he had it. I put this at the bottom of a long list of
things to investigate until by chance I pulled John Brignell's wonderful
book, Sorry, wrong number! - The abuse of measurement, from the shelf
and thumbed my way to the section on passive smoking. If John is right, [I
NOW (OCTOBER 29, 2005) BELIEVE HE IS WRONG] then
P & T's researchers did a good job. However, John's main source is Steven Milloy of the Junk Science Page, which I have criticized for having a
political agenda that considers any scientist who disagrees with him to be
guilty of "junk science." Still, on this issue Milloy makes a strong case
that the evidence for the dangers of secondhand smoke is lacking.
I hope to have more on this topic in the next issue.
I do have more to say on this topic
in the next issue and several others as well: the bottom line is that Milloy
has duped Brignell, and others like Milloy have duped me and P & T's
researchers into thinking that standards for risk assessment that were
pushed by the tobacco industry and Republican cronies like Jim Tozzi were
reasonable. They're not.
SEE CHRIS MOONEY'S
THE REPUBLICAN WAR ON SCIENCE.
Feedback
In the last newsletter, I listed the Buteyko Method as quackery, not
because nobody has ever been helped by it. Presumably, it wouldn't be around
if nobody felt it did any good. I referred to it as quackery because Dr.
Buteyko doesn't limit his breathing technique to people with breathing
problems. He claims he can cure such things as high blood pressure and
arthritis with breathing. His method contradicts centuries of meditation
practices that emphasize deep breathing, as well as what many people who
exercise find: deep breathing feels good. However, when I had a bout with
bronchitis recently, I not only avoided exercising; I avoided deep breathing. Why?
Because it was painful to breathe deeply and it triggered coughing fits. I
may have been practicing the Buteyko method and didn't know it!
I don't think it is a scoop to note that light breathing may help relax a
person and so may help with stress-related problems.
***
Carlton B. Morgan writes: I am not exactly a credulous person, but
breathing is higher on my list of priorities even than my irreligion and
skepticism. I am a severe asthmatic of some several decades standing. As
such, I have tried all sorts of quackery (as one would under my
circumstance) including even homeopathy (when I didn't know any better).
Believe you me, not being able to breathe makes you do all sorts of daft
things!
I have to say that the Buteyko Method is the only thing that has ever
mirrored my experience as an asthmatic. I would not say this lightly, as the
fact that I once spent several £s on homeopathy still angers me. Also, in my
experience, conventional medicines have not exactly been totally effective.
A while ago I was prescribed some steroid inhalers called "Becotide," which
worked splendidly for several years and then, all of a sudden, not only did
they stop working but they made my condition worse. On visiting my GP and
telling him of this, I was met with the reply "that shouldn't happen." Which
was not exactly useful.
So after coming across a book in the library (there are many "asthma"
advisory books there) I tried what little of the Buteyko Method I could
glean from the Internet. It was very effective and my asthma is now
considerably better. I have a good friend who also tried such a thing, with
positive results.
Plus there was once a program on BBC1 UK where Buteyko practitioners
instructed a group of asthmatics (many of whom were even more severe than
myself) and at the end of a week they appeared to have improved
considerably. Conventional doctors on the program were still dubious. I can
hardly blame them, as I am dubious about certain aspects of Buteyko, not
least is the rather exorbitant fees they charge (if I had a cure for such a
life-threatening chronic illness I would give it away!). However, this does
not automatically make it the same as "quackery"... Scientifically
controversial? Yes. As is every other treatment for asthma you can name.
I would dearly love to see Buteyko given a proper scientific analysis, as
in my experience it warrants it. I am not aware of this ever having
occurred, if it has please pass it on!
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