Sathya Sai Baba And True Believer Syndrome
True Believer Syndrome Not Applicable To Sathya Sai Baba
Anti-Sai Activists continually use to the term "true believer syndrome" in reference to Satya Sai Baba and his devotees. Ex-devotees even refer readers to Wikipedia's article on True Believer Syndrome. Needless to say, I was a prime contributor to that article and made some very amusing discoveries about "true believer syndrome" that wholly compromises its usage by critics, skeptics, rationalists and ex-devotees.
The term "true believer syndrome" was coined by the reformed psychic medium Lamar Keene in his book, The Psychic Mafia. Amusingly enough, the Rev. Canon William V. Rauscher and M. Lamar Keene both describe a difference between "true-believer syndrome" and general belief in the paranormal. In the foreword to The Psychic Mafia, Rauscher wrote that he accepted the reality of paranormal manifestations and that "good mediums" do, in fact, exist. Rauscher does not see this type of belief as being indicative of "true-believer syndrome".
Keene explicitly professed a belief in life after death, psychic phenomena, ESP and God even after making his case against "true believers" and renouncing his trade as a phony medium.
Therefore, Rauscher and Keene do not condemn or belittle belief in the supernatural. To the contrary, they openly believe in the supernatural! Rauscher and Keene condemn and belittle persisting belief in events that have been openly faked (with a full admission of fraud) and refer to this persisting belief as "true believer syndrome".Sathya Sai Baba has never openly stated that he fakes miracles or manifestations. Until Sathya Sai Baba does so, this term does not apply to him or his followers (as belief in miracles, paranormal manifestations and the like are NOT indicative of "true believers syndrome"). Too bad critics and skeptics don't research the origins of terms they loosely use against others.