JANUARY 20, 2003

POP CULTURE
Miracles move into prime time

Miracles are in the air - or, at the very least, on the airwaves. On Jan. 27, ABC-TV will launch a new prime-time drama, Miracles, in which a skeptical investigator confronts paranormal phenomena he cannot explain. ABC is tapping into what some religion-watchers say is a rising trend. In 1999, 84 percent of Americans said they believe that God performs miracles, according to the Pew Research Center for People and the Press. Nearly half of Americans say they have experienced or witnessed a miracle, according to a May 2000 Newsweek poll. The number of books, television specials and web sites addressing miracles reflects those beliefs.

Ole Anthony, president of the Trinity Foundation, a Dallas watchdog organization that sniffs out spiritual frauds, says belief in miracles may be at an all-time high. "There is such a sense of desperation among people," he says. "I think it is the pressure of seeing the things they thought they believed in fail. And there is a need to believe in the supernatural."

Talk to people in your community about miracles. Do they believe in them? Have they experienced them? How do they live life differently because of them? How have their beliefs changed over time? Are their beliefs shaped by their connection to institutional religion?

Why it matters
At a time when religious differences are at the root of much world conflict, belief in miracles is common to most world religions, including Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism and Baha'i.

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National sources

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• Dr. Margaret Poloma is a professor emeritus of religion at the University of Akron who has written extensively about miracles. She says people believe in miracles because they need to have hope in something bigger than themselves. Contact 330-972-6837 (work), 330-328-7860 (cell), mpoloma@uakron.edu. (Dr. Poloma will be unavailable for interviews Jan. 23-28).
• Ole Anthony is president of the Trinity Foundation, a non-profit Christian-based organization that investigates religious fraud. He and Trinity help newsgathering organizations investigate the miraculous claims of televangelists, including a December 27, 2002 expose of Benny Hinn by NBC's Dateline. Anthony says that despite all the fraud he has seen, he still believes in miracles because it is endemic to Christianity. Contact 214-826-4885, ole@trinityfi.org.
• Dr. William Dinges is a professor of religious studies at the Catholic University of America and an expert on American Catholicism. In the Catholic tradition, he says, belief in miracles stems from the fact that Catholicism is a very sacramental tradition that takes the supernatural seriously. He says it believes that divine reality is not passive, but works through the world in extraordinary ways. Contact 202-319-6890, dinges@cua.edu.
• Dr. Paul Kurtz is chair of the Council for Secular Humanism and founder and chairman of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal. Contact 716-636-7571 ext. 202, PaulKurtz@aol.com.

Background

• Read ABC-TV's description of its new show Miracles.
• Read an April 24, 2000, Washington Post story that reviews a variety of polls on religion, including Americans' belief in miracles.
• "The Miracles Page" lists alleged miracles of various faiths, and ChristusRex lists Marian apparitions in the United States.
• Read a Jan. 7, 2003 Catholic News Service story about the investigation of a miracle attributed to Mother Teresa.
• Read a Sept. 21, 2000 Religion News Service article about Muslims and Coptic Christians sighting an appearance of the Virgin Mary in Egypt in 2000.
• Read the definition of a miracle in different faith traditions:

• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy includes David Hume's famous argument against the likelihood of miracles and a discussion of the religious significance of miracles. • The Catholic Encyclopedia. • Christianity Today. • The Skeptic's Dictionary. • JewishEncyclopedia.com. • Baha'i Library.