Christian MPs Take Stand On ASA’s ‘God Can Heal’ Advert Ban
This was posted yesterday. I can’t tell whether it was an April Fool or not, but I decided to post it since I have covered the story before.
A Devon MP and two other MPs are trying to overturn a ban on advertising claims that “God can heal”.
They want the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) to produce “indisputable scientific evidence” to say that prayer does not work.
They wrote a letter on behalf of the Christians in Parliament (CIP) group.
It came after the ASA banned a Christian group from claiming on its website and in leaflets that God can heal illnesses.
It said a leaflet available to download from the group’s website said: “Need Healing? God can heal today!”
The ASA said it had concluded that the adverts by Healing on the Streets (HOTS) – Bath, were misleading.
‘Sincere group’
HOTS, based in Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, said it was disappointed with the decision and would appeal.
Mr Streeter, Conservative MP for South West Devon and chairman of CIP, wrote an open letter to the ASA along with Gavin Shuker, Labour MP for Luton South, and Tim Farron, Liberal Democrat MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale.
In the letter to the ASA they said they would “be the first to accept that prayed for people do not always get healed, but sometimes they do”.
“That is all this sincere group of Christians in Bath are claiming,” the MPs said.
Mr Streeter also said in the letter: “You might be interested to know that I (Gary Streeter) received divine healing myself at a church meeting in 1983 on my right hand, which was in pain for many years.
“After prayer at that meeting, my hand was immediately free from pain and has been ever since.”
Same Difference 
Thanks for this post SameDifference1 – I love the way all your posts provoke deep thought.
I just wish I had the energy to comment on them all!
I find it interesting that – as a Christian and being used to people asking about many things in these times “does it do what it says on the tin?” – now the philosophy of “trading standards” has been applied to prayer!
I can neither prove nor disprove the power of prayer – if it works or not.
I could never say to someone” I will pray for you and your problem will be gone”.
But I can tell you about times I believe that my prayer was answered in the affirmative.
Mum says all prayers are answered, it’s just that sometimes the answer is “no”.
I think it would be silly to suggest that faith in God and being on good terms with Jesus will get me 100% well again, cured, skipping to church every Sunday with a song in my heart – I have to be realistic – this is an inherited degenerative syndrome I’m dealing with!
But my faith dictates I should be (just not always am) hopeful and humble, accept that life is not easy and with prayer and faithfulness I can at least have my connection to the higher life force, and take comfort while I suffer my adversities that heaven is waiting for me, when this physical and mental pain is no longer bound to my soul.
We all pray for miracles and I think there are miracles every day – inspiring, spiritual, wonderous in their nature – Mr Shuker, who in a place where there was hope and humility found his painful hand no longer troubling him – after being inspired and moved by the healer. I have no doubt in my mind that energy – good, bad, “religious” or “realistic” – has always and always will find a way to wend into our lives, we can only make sense of this with our own explainations. I wonder at the marvel that is Fabrice Muamba – now there’s an event that made me ask – did all the faithful believers at that ground, and watching on tv that day, all devoutly pray, together, at the same time for Fabrice? I reckon they must have!
I’ve read stories of people fighting unimaginably malignant cancer, been given 3 months tops, been prayed for and lived to fight another year or two. They probably thank, through a prayer, to God or to the sky, all the people that prayed for them! At times just knowing someone is praying for me has helped me, to find strength, hope or just a happy thought to keep me going. That’s the value of prayer.
My Sister’s a Pagan, she thinks it should just be about faith, not the religion when you cut it down, living well and thoughtfully with positive outcomes in mind – whether you worship God, Allah, Buddah, Ganesh, Mother Earth – or no God/ deity at all! She’s summised that Earth is so big, with so many different peoples, that God had to have different names so he could get through to everyone! We do find it funny, that in bad times non-believing people pray – but there’s nothing wrong with that – nothing ventured, nothing gained – it’s like betting on a horse. Life IS like a box of chocolates – you never know WHAT you’re going to get!
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Ooops SORRY it was Gary Streeter whose hand was reportedly healed – not Gavin Shuker – and I’m not really bothered if it was an April fool or not – it gave me something to think about!
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