{"id":4945,"date":"2010-10-30T15:43:45","date_gmt":"2010-10-30T15:43:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/?p=4945"},"modified":"2010-10-30T15:43:45","modified_gmt":"2010-10-30T15:43:45","slug":"the-miraculous-deception","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/the-miraculous-deception\/","title":{"rendered":"The Miraculous Deception"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Here (via the Guardian) is just another reminder of the timeless appeal of the miraculous:<\/p>\n

The name Jesus is stamped behind the pulpit in thick blue lettering. But at the Pentecostal Church of the Miracle the headline act is not the Son of God but a six-year-old girl in a pink dress. A banner advertises “an explosion of miracles” at the entrance to the church \u2013 a converted warehouse on the impoverished outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. “She places her hands and the miracle happens.” On the roof a placard promises “health, happiness and victory”.<\/p>\n

On the street outside, anxious followers quiz dapper evangelical doormen: “Is she here? Is she here?”<\/p>\n

“She” is Alani dos Santos, a “child healer” better known as the Missionarinha or Little Missionary, who is reputedly capable of healing the sickest of congregants with a touch of her hands. Twice a week, bandage-clad and cancer-ridden believers pack this cramped “temple” in search of a miracle.<\/p>\n

“Thousands of people have been touched,” says her father, Pastor Adauto Santos, 44, a former hairdresser and car thief who runs what is one of Rio de Janeiro’s most talked-about churches and believes his daughter can cure ailments from cancer to Aids and TB.<\/p>\n

“She’s a normal kid \u2013 apart from this gift,” he says, adding: “It is Jesus who cures. She is an instrument.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here (via the Guardian) is just another reminder of the timeless appeal of the miraculous: The name Jesus is stamped behind the pulpit in thick blue lettering. But at the Pentecostal Church of the Miracle the headline act is not … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[9],"tags":[660,661,205],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4945"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4945"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4945\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4955,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4945\/revisions\/4955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}