
Missouri Sues Televangelist Jim Bakker for Selling Fake Coronavirus Cure - rmason
https://www.npr.org/2020/03/11/814550474/missouri-sues-televangelist-jim-bakker-for-selling-fake-coronavirus-cure
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nimbius
its a bit weird to watch a state that snored through 30 years of medical
knowledge on the safe and effective practice of abortion in favor of christian
pseudoscience suddenly become concerned about the pseudoscience of a
televangelists snake oil.

this is the same Missouri that insists women read a pseudoscience pamphlet
prior to getting an abortion, including an entire passage about "fetal pain"

[https://health.mo.gov/living/families/womenshealth/pregnancy...](https://health.mo.gov/living/families/womenshealth/pregnancyassistance/pdf/Mo.InformedConsentBooklet-
Revisedpgs.12-15August2019jkOGCReviewed.pdf)

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paulryanrogers
Not surprising considering Bakker's past, or the magical thinking that often
accompanies charismatic Christianity.

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ncr100
5 years in Federal prison - Fraud / Wire Fraud, Conspiracy

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Bakker#Fraud_conviction_an...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Bakker#Fraud_conviction_and_imprisonment)

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vr46
Is that dude still around? Did he not learn anything from going to jail for
fraud?

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olodus
Why silver specifically as a cure? Do these people specify any reason at all
why this would kill virus in particular or have they just picked the next
element at random from the periodic table to use in their scams?

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user982
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_uses_of_silver](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_uses_of_silver)

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hyperman1
Whats the difference between quackery in corona times vs before? Either you
protect gullible people all the time, or you consider them responsible people
all the time. Only thing that has changed is the scale of the fraud.

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scottLobster
The difference is the extra attention he's brought on himself. He was just a
background scammer before, now he's inserted himself into an ongoing global
crisis. It's the difference between annoying someone when they're in a good
mood vs annoying them when they're in a bad mood and scared. Institutions are
only as rational as the humans running them.

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mgh2
"evangelical" has become a red flag Christian denomination in my keyword
repertoire after Trump.

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badrabbit
I don't like this, I get what the state is saying but my problem is did he
make it clear the claim was not based on scientific process or testing? If
that was ambiguous then he should have made it clear. But if the viewers
clearly knew his claims are based on faith or religious belief the state is
clearly violating the rights of the seller and consumer to hold a religious
belief. It comes down to this, did he decieve anyone? If not there was no
fraud. It's a right because clearly claims like this cause a large amount of
people to be against these beliefs.

Saying people have to accept and adjust their beliefs around modern science is
the equivalent of banning all religions or beliefs. People have a basic human
right to believe whatever they want without suffering harm for it,regarsless
of how unusual or ridiculous it might be, so long as they don't cause harm to
others. So what if some gullible older or vulnerable person bought into a
belief society considers silly and threw away all their possessions to be
cured of death or something, then they excercised their belief. The person
that sold them the belief can be accuser of fraud or deception only if it can
be proven that his claims were made with an intent to deceive ,in other words
the accuser needs to prove their belief was falsely held in a court.

Either the people who bought the cure must have thought his claims were made
on a scientific basis or it must be proven that he does not truly hold the
belief he claims to believe and he professed that belief for a financial gain.

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Fezzik
Dude, just read the article. The first few lines make it clear that Mr. Bakker
and his fake expert were absolutely trying to dupe people in to thinking that
some nonsense-juice would cure the current corona virus. They even said it
would cure SARS - another virus that has no cure. That’s fraud. I, for one, am
heartened that we are finally seeing society not give a pass to complete
idiots because “faith”. I almost wept when the manslaughter sentence was
upheld against the faith-healing parents in Oregon who let their perfectly
treatable baby die because “faith”. I never thought I would see the day. Well
done Missouri.

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badrabbit
I did, a "natural health expert" was the person he used to backup the claim,if
that is found to be the same as a scientific authority then i am all for the
lawsuit.

Dude, it's a nonsense juice _to you_ you can hate it and tell people not to
use it all you want and that's fine, I will do the same too. I don't support
or associate myself with this guy.

I don't think those people who didn't treat their Child should be convicted of
a crime either, if someone says for example "eating grass will cure cancer"
they have every right to believe that and excercise that belief. The parents
of that child had genuine belief and intent their lack of acceptance towards
scientific and proven medical treatment is their right. Perhaps the child
should have been taken away from them or something. But the whole point of
being allowed to believe in something is so you can excercise that belief. If
you really believe your scientific beliefs supersede all other beleifs then
attempt to codify it in law and I hope there are sensible people left that
will resist either peacefully or by force.

You don't get to police other people's beleifs, they are not your slaves, your
right to believe what you want including science and medicine and practice it
is predicated on your ability to tolerate others who disagree completely with
you! That's the price you pay, just like when someone is a Nazi you don't get
to kill them or if they hate women you don't get to discriminate against them.
However horrible you think a belief,race,eth icity or gender is yours is
toleratee because you tolerate them.

