Charlatans...

[Fiona McQuarrie <fmcquarr@upei.ca>]

Raymond, you make some good points, but...
is there any evidence that Lily is a "charlatan"?
As I noted, we don't know that Kate has turned over all her money to her
or is going door to door recruiting new converts or anything like that.

The other issue is, what is a "charlatan"? I suppose you could argue that
all organized religion, whether Christian or spiritualist, is a sham in
some way (oooh, now I'm treading on serious flame war territory here :) ).
We don't know which one, if any, is right, or the holder of the absolute
truth (if there is one), but different people get comfort from them and
maybe turn over a little money in the process. If some spiritual reward is
gained, who can say that those people are losing out?

I had a discussion with a friend about Jim Bakker along these same lines.
Although Jim Bakker did a lot of illegal things like avoid taxes, and was
a hypocrite to boot, people kept sending him money because they liked his
ministry and wanted to support him in his (admittedly incompletely
portrayed) "work". Were those people ripped off by a charlatan? Maybe, if
they found out that he didn't practice what he preached; maybe not, if
they enjoyed his teachings and gained benefit from them. (I personally
think he's a crook, but there you go :) )

So I would say that if Kate is getting good things for her out of her
association with Lily, and it doesn't appeasr to be a scam, then we should
accept
that and be glad for her, even if we don't share the same belief system.

Cheers, Fiona