#3069: Stephen Imbarrato

A.k.a. the ‘Protest Priest’

 

Father Stephen Imbarrato is a retired Catholic priest of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Santa Fe and former pastoral consultant for Priests for Life. He is probably most famous for his anti-abortion activism – Imbarrato is the founder of Protest Childkilling, a founding member of Red Rose Rescue, and involved in a number of other anti-abortion efforts like Protest ABQ – and he has, as an activist campaigning to “make the wombs of our American women safe again”, had some brushes with the law (including being arrested for trespassing inside Planned Parenthood). Now, activism itself is not lunacy, but Imbarrato’s protests also often involve him praying exorcism prayers over abortion facilities and performing exorcism rites on clinics to attempt to rid them of “demonic oppression” – indeed, Priests for Life advertises Imbarrato as being available to “lead Exorcism Prayers at an abortion center near you”. And exorcism, at least insofar as you believe that you are actually dealing with demons rather than just performing some nod to ancient tradition, is lunacy.

 

Imbarrato has apparently been involved in a number of other wingnut efforts, too. He has also for instance lent his support to the efforts of the extreme anti-scientific Kolbe Center’s efforts to promote strict young-earth creationism and geocentrism.

 

Diagnosis: Unhinged lunatic. That some people treat (and some people apparently do) this clown as an authority on anything is disgraceful.

 

#3068: Shane Idleman

Shane Idleman is a California-based pastor (Westside Christian Fellowship) and occasional contributor to outlets like the Christian Post (CP). For the latter, Idleman has for instance explained how science not only confirms the Bible but that the Bible would actually be a useful guide for science; Idleman has in mind for instance things like “[s]cience teaches that time, space, and matter must occur simultaneously – Genesis confirms it” (we suppose that only the number of words allotted to him by CP stopped him from explaining some details here), that “Job knew that springs were at the bottom of the ocean” and that “Job said that the earth free floats in space” (Idleman did somehow not mention the following passages in the Bible where God contradicts Job on his assertions and rebukes him for his insolence), that “Genesis disclosed that our bodies are made from the earth (28 base and trace elements). Psalms mentions the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics — ‘The universe will perish; they will all wear out like a garment’ ”, and fine-tuning (“the perfect distance of the sun from the earth at 93-million miles” points to a designer). One might accuse Idleman of some … selectivity in the choice of examples, but at least he does realize that some bits don’t fit so well. And the bits of science that cannot be fit with the Bible by shoehorning and hand-waving? Well, those can be safely dismissed: “Evolution is not a fact; it’s a theory” as ostensibly confirmed by Darwin himself, who “basically said, ‘I think this is what happened,’ when he wrote, On The Origin of Species”. And according to Idleman, “there is no fossil support, DNA confirmation, or any physical evidence anywhere”, which makes it ‘ironic’ that it is “taught in our school system as fact”. And when Idleman says that “many scientists from NASA Langley research center, as well as PhDs from Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and so on” reject evolution; what he has in mind is this one, no less. At least he makes a good case for why we desperately need more science education in schools.

 

And it’s not like evolution is the only topic where Idleman has his own take on science. During COVID, Idleman e.g. warned Christians to be wary of both the COVID-19 vaccine and any other vaccines: “Is it wise to inject a virus directly into the bloodstream? Is vaccination truly about helping people or generating income? You be the judge,” said Idleman.

 

Otherwise, Idleman’s contributions to public debate reveal the type of perspective and level of reflection you’d expect from his take on science. Idleman for instance suggests that mass shootings are caused by “our sex-saturated culture” and the “sex and violence [that] is tied to zombies, witches, vampires, and horror movies”. Indeed, such entertainment might have even darker consequences, too, and he has for instance warned Christians against watching Game of Thrones because “if enchantments, witchcraft, familiar spirits and wizards are entertaining, something is clearly wrong. Darkness should not entertain.” He has also promoted pseudohistorian David Barton’s work; and like so many others in his position, Idleman is being heavily persecuted as demonstrated e.g. by the fact that i) he thinks there should be a religious test for office, and ii) there isn’t, which means that the US has “catered to political correctness” and that the courts have misinterpreted the idea of the separation of church and state, which again shows that “they” want to “silence the pulpit.” If that’s not persecution, it is unclear what is. You don’t need to ask him his views on marriage equality.

 

You can probably guess where he stands politically, but yes, Idleman is MAGA, and not only because he agrees with Trump’s policies but (predictably) because supporting Trump is “supporting a movement back to God”. Unfortunately, Trump is beset by the machinations of Satan, e.g. through “voter fraud, ballot harvesting and media giants railing against Trump” to such an extent that “only a sovereign act of God can bring about a re-election”. Trump’s victory in 2024 is accordingly clear evidence that he is chosen by God.

 

Diagnosis: Though you might think he’d be too daft and dumb even for the religious right, Idleman’s rants keep popping up in various contexts. He seems to have quite a bit of an audience, and one suspects that his nonsense is pitched at an intellectual level that hits the mark for a frightening number of people (he seems, after all, to tend to avoid the vulgar displays of hatred and murderlust you see from many other fundies pitching their stuff at a similar level).

 

#3067: Cynthia Hutchison

Therapeutic touch (TT) is a bullshit woo species of the bullshit woo known as energy medicine. The premise for the technique is bonkers, and reasonably systematic studies that bracket the fact that the premise for the technique is bonkers, have also shown the technique to be worthless in practice as well. One such study is this one, designed by then-9-year-old Emily Rosa as her fourth-grade science project, which made her the youngest researcher ever to have a paper published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

 

Quacks and quackery-oriented healthcare practitioners were not happy with that study, however. Cynthia Hutchison, “DNSc, RN, CHTP/I, Research Coordinator for Healing Touch International, Inc., Lakewood, CO” (later Assistant Program Director), for instance claimed, in an “Official Response from Healing Touch International … to the April 1, 1998 JAMA article ‘debunking’ Therapeutic Touch” that the study was flawed because the researcher’s mother was a critic of TT and therefore biased and because a rigorous study like this didn’t take into account that the effectiveness of TT is a function of the practitioner’s intention of doing good for the patient: “What you do in your mind and heart far surpasses any kinesthetic experience in your hands”, said Hutchison: “Some practitioners sense a client’s energy intuitively or are able to see, or hear subtle aspects of (clairvoyance). Each person is unique in her or his abilities as a practitioner.” Or in other words: no study can debunk TT since it’s magic: practitioners shouldn’t worry about numbers or statistics or reason or facts but “embrace the mystery” and let go of “the need to understand”.

 

As for the alleged bias, it wasn’t a matter of study design flaws; rather, the problem was that since people in the Rosa household were critical of TT, their “thoughts may have blocked her own energy field from being perceived based on her belief that the practitioners could not be successful. Practitioners are keenly aware of people’s ability to block or close down their energy fields with their thoughts”. And to really drive it home, Hutchison attacked the study set up for its mechanistic underpinnings; Hutchison, however, appealed to quantum: as opposed to old-fashioned mechanistic ideas, “quantum physics of today describes us as fields within fields, as vibrating waves and particles, as equal to about 2 grains of sand in solid matter were we to be totally compressed.” It does … not. But as Hutchison’s sees it, therefore “[m]odern physics supports the use of energetic therapy, most notably in the sentences: ‘Thought precedes form. Thought is a form of energy. Attention (presence) changes the object being observed.’[she neglected to provide a reference] … Spirituality and science have been kept separate since the scientific era, but more and more we are seeing the holism of all creation, the connectedness of everyone and everything, and the re-emergence of science and spirituality as different perspectives of the same thing.” Wheee!

 

Then she recommended people to consult, instead of Rosa’s study, “Vibrational Medicine by Richard Gerber, MD, or some of Deepak Chopra’s books”. Oh, yes. Perhaps dimly realizing the somewhat flailing nature of her response, Hutchison finished by stating that “[w]e encourage solid research to study all aspects of energetic healing in order to understand how it can best serve humanity”. That sentence, however, is just a boring, baldfaced lie and thus a disappointing ending to an otherwise gloriously delusional stream-of-consciousness piece of choprawoo. It is, however, noteworthy that Hutchison was not only research coordinator for her … cult(?) but ostensibly taught all levels of the Healing Touch International curriculum, including Instructor Training and Advanced Practice 1 and 2. She is also the author of Healing Touch Meditations: Guided Practices to Awaken Healing Energy For Yourself and Others.

 

Diagnosis: A chaotic mess of incoherent feel-good New Age blather and pseudo-religious confusion. You’d think she’d be mostly harmless, but people – including real nurses – continue to get caught up in this twaddle.

 

Hat-tip: Kimball Atwood @ Sciencebased Medicine

 

#3066: Jessica Hutchins

Jessica Hutchins is an autism biomed quack and co-founder, with Daniel Neides, of Inspire Wellness, a private practice that offers a wide variety of quackery and pseudoscience-based nonsense, ranging from functional medicine to infrared sauna and intravenous nutrition, which is recommended for “heavy metal and chemical toxicity,” migraines, asthma, chronic fatigue syndrome, and what have you. They even offer something called the ‘Inspire Wellness Personalized Membership’, which is a type of (basically) concierge service typical of certain types of altmed practoces: neither Hutchins not Neides have admitting privileges at any hospital, and no, they don’t take Medicare, Medicaid, or health insurance, because what they offer is rubbish quackery that no insurance company is willing to reimburse.

 

Now, Hutchins did, in fact, train as an OBGYN, and she is an MD. According to herself, however, her “trajectory was forever changed when her oldest son, Josh, was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in 2004 at the age of three. Demanding to uncover the answers to the cause and treatment of ASD, Jessica began her educational journey in the field of Functional Medicine,” which, as Hutchins sees it, is an area of medicine that “focuses on reversing chronic disease by understanding the complexity of the body at an energetic and cellular level”; it’s not like ‘functional medicine’ has a standard definition – typically, it is ‘make it up asyou go’ medicine that combines massive over-testing with quackery –  so practitioners like Hutchins are more or less free to use it to mean more or less whatever she wants. And yes, she claims to have cured Josh from his ASD diagnosis.

 

As her presentation of her narrative suggests, Hutchins is anti-vaccine; at least her testimony in favor of Ohio House Bill 193 (which would prohibit penalties for employees of hospitals and health care systems who refuse the flu vaccine) included several of the antivaccine movement’s greatest hits. And like so many quacks and alternative practitioners, Hutchins is concerned with nutrition, in particular children’s nutrition; in itself, that might sound reasonable, but instead of being reasonable, Hutchins’ recommendation for parents include: “For more info on eating toxin-free food and pushing food manufacturers to stop using these ingredients, check out foodbabe.com”. Oh, yes, she did.

 

Hutchins’s main claim to fame, however, is probably due to her partner David Neides (upcoming). Neides used to be Acting Medical Director of the Tanya I. Edwards Center for Integrative Medicine, Vice Chair and Chief Operating Officer of Cleveland Clinic Wellness, as well as the Associate Director of Clinical Education for The Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine (CCLCM), no less, where he oversaw all clinical activities during years three through five of the medical school. Even a somewhat questionable institution like the Cleveland Clinic realized they needed to let him go in 2017, however, after he posted an insane anti-vaccine rant (‘Make 2017 the year to avoid toxins (good luck) and master your domain’) in which he suggested that vaccines cause autism and where he – yes – also cited Hutchins’s recommendations of the Food Babe. (Neides’s antivaccine breakdown was hardly surprising – once you’ve deluded yourself into thinking that your body needs help to remove unnamed “toxins”, you are well on your way to antivaccine pseudo- and antiscience).

 

Diagnosis: Yes, it’s another example of the allure of the dark side, and as usual it’s a process driven as much by a lack of reason as by a lack of integrity – Hutchins has a real education, but while she probably learned a bit, she understood nothing.

 

Hat-tip: Respectful Insolence

 

#3065: Steve Huston

The American Decency Association (ADA) is an extremist group of angry, paranoid conspiracy theory-oriented fundies that seeks “... to educate its members and the general public on matters of decency; to initiate, promote, encourage and coordinate activity designed to safeguard and advance public morality consistent with biblical Christianity”. It is generally allied with other fundie organizations like the American Family Association, the Family Research Council, Liberty Counsel and similar organizations, and yes: we have of course encountered them before.

 

Steve Huston is what seems to be a longtime staff writer for ADA (he has his own blog on their website). Though Huston covers a number of topics in his writings, it is consistently from a Christians-are-persecuted-in-the-US perspective; ‘persecution’ of course understood as the fact that people – even politicians – disagree with them in speech and action and are allowed to do so, that democracy sometimes lead to outcomes Huston doesn’t favor, and that the ADA cannot force other people to behave and think the way ADA thinks they should behave and think. But as Huston sees it, not only are leftists and Democrats (and Muslims – do not forget Muslims) vile and evil: there is nefarious agency at work here. Not only do leftists seek to undermine Christian America through immigration (which is why Huston wants government to e.g. deny entry into the US to Muslims and people supporting Jihad and socialism in order to protect the freedoms, like freedom of speech, that he values), they have been bamboozled into promoting the agenda of radical Islamists and Chinese communists, who are in cahoots to destroy America: Marijuana legalization, for instance, is as Huston sees it the result of the “Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and their plethora of illegal ploys used as a means of attacking America from within”. And don’t get him started on the War on Christmas and the forces involved in that very real effort to persecute Christians. To make his case, Huston relies heavily on ‘information’ from an impressive number of entries in our Encyclopedia, e.g. Tucker Carlson, Frank Gaffney and Tony Perkins.

 

In particular, Huston is (but of course) worried about the gay agenda and who is really behind that one. Here, for instance, is Huston explaining how a graham cracker ad featuring a same-sex couple with their children clearly reveals the active hand of Satan himself. That one’s from 2014, but Huston is still, in 2026, sore about Obergefell and wants and hopes to see it reversed. Indeed, same sex marriage seems to be the only topic on which Huston is willing to take exception to his general praise for Trump to admit that Trump doesn’t quite deserve a perfect score.

 

Occasionally, Huston broaches topics related to science, too. Huston is, for instance, a creationist, and in order for his readers to form their own educated views on biological evolution, he recommends resources from Answers in Genesis, including (in particular) videos about their bogus distinction between ‘historical’ and ‘observational’ science. During COVID, he would promote resourcing offering misinformation about COVID vaccines and various antivaccine videos as well, because of course he did.

 

Diagnosis: Yet another paranoid fundie conspiracy theorist. His affiliation probably ensures that his nonsense is unlikely to reach much of an audience beyond other paranoid fundie conspiracy theorists, but he’s certainly not making things any better.

#3064: Warren Hurst

Dredging up some more old garbage here: Warren Hurst was – or is, for all we know – a member of the Sevier County Commission in Tennessee who got a bit of national attention back in 2019 for a seven-minute rant he did during a county commission meeting. One target was, of course, zeh gays – Pete Buttigieg in particular: “It’s time we wake up people […] We got a queer running for president, if that ain’t about as ugly as you can get,” said Hurst: “Look what we got running for president in the Democratic party. We can go over here to Hoss’s jail [Sevier County Sheriff] and get better people out of there than those running for democratic to be President of the United States.” Then, he presented his opinion on race: “I’m not prejudiced, a white male in this country has very few rights and they’re getting took more every day,” Hurst told the (all-white) county commission; later, in response to critics, he defended himself by saying that some of his best friends were African American; he nevertheless stood by his comments because he’s entitled to his opinions, which really isn’t the issue. Later, the Tennessee House of Representative passed a resolution to honor Hurst.

 

Diagnosis: Old, angry and stupid sod. The thing to worry about here is really all those in the audience who cheered and agreed, and those for whom this is just local politics as usual.

 

#3063: Steve Hurst

Steve Hurst is a longtime member of the Alabama House of Representatives representing the the 35th District, having served since 1998. That has given him plenty of time to do plenty of silly stuff, such as being the (sole) sponsor of Alabama’s House Bill 258 in 2018, which would, if enacted, allow teachers to present “the theory of creation as presented in the Bible” in any class discussing evolution, “thereby affording students a choice as to which theory to accept.” The bill would also ensure that creationist students would not be penalized for answering examination questions in a way reflecting their adherence to creationism, “provided the response is correct according to the instruction received.” The bill was clearly modeled on the Kentucky Revised Statutes 158.177, which was enacted in 1976 and seems to be still on the books in Kentucky despite its patent unconstitutionality. Hurst has otherwise received some attention for earlier proposals to require public school teachers to read a daily prayer in the classroom and to punish sex offenders with surgical or chemical castration (that one eventually passed in 2019, but will never be used since it sets up castration as a condition for parole and the crimes for which it can, in fact, be used are not eligible for parole anyways – the whole thing was, of course, just to show off some sort of character.)

 

Diagnosis: Wingnut fundie loon the old-fashioned way – the kind we used to cover a lot of a decade ago but today seem almost quaint. Still a loon, though.