#525: Dannion Brinkley

Dannion Brinkley is an author best known for describing two near death experiences in his 1994 book Saved by the Light (later adapted as a movie), and for subsequently becoming a prominent figure in the New Age and New Thought Movement. He has, for instance, worked closely with the famous near death ”researcher” Raymond Moody (to be covered later).

In his near-death recounts Brinkley claimed that he met 13 Beings of Light who told him that “those who go to Earth are the real heroes and heroines [in othre words, Brinkley is really an angelic being on a mission from God], because you are doing something that no other spiritual beings have the courage to do. You have gone to earth to co-create with God,” and, apparently, to receive visions of future events. Brinkley foresaw that there would be a breakdown of the Soviet Union in 1990 and subsequent food riots (according to Moody the forecast struck him as ”silly and absurd” at the time but later proved accurate – funny enough Moody only mentioned this after the fall of the Soviet Union). Brinkley's visions also reportedly included the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster and the 1990–1991 Persian Gulf War, but unfortunately Brinkley never mentioned these visions to anyone before his 1994 book. A pity, isn’t it? And extremely surprisingly, the forecasts he did make in 1994 –  a 1995 nuclear accident in Norway and a pre-2000 economic collapse in the United States – never occured. Brinkley also claims the events surrounding his first near death experience left him with ”special powers”, i.e. psychic and paranormal abilities, but these don’t seem to be testable (presumably, they magically refuse to work in controlled situations).

His most recent book (with Kathryn Peters-Brinkley, presumably his wife) is The Secrets of the Light: Spiritual strategies to empower your life ... here and in the hereafter, which contains a garbled mess of quantum woo and claims to the effect that ”chaos is not something to be avoided, but is, if used with intent, an unfailing source of spiritual growth, so we should welcome it” (according to his fan Don Croft). Brinkley is currently apparently writing a new one: ”is this like The Secret? Well, yes, sort of, but it’s soooo much more.” Indeed.

Among Brinkley’s other claims are recounts of his alleged actions as a CIA sniper in Laos during the Vietnam War, even though military records show that he was stationed in Georgia as a truck driver throughout the events.

To be fair, Brinkley does seem to have done some pretty decent charity work in his life, but that doesn’t quite disqualify him from receiving an entry.

Diagnosis: He does seem to enjoy some popularity, but primarily among those with a tenuous grasp on reality to begin with. Probably rather harmless.

#524: David Brickner

David Brickner is an ordained Christian Baptist minister author and musician. He is not Jewish, but has been head of the Christian missionary group Jews for Jesus since 1996. Jews for Jesus is, as you’d expect, an Evangelical organization focusing on the conversion of Jews to Christianity, and its members – including Brickner – count themselves as hardcore fundamentalist (Biblical literalist) Christian Jews … or whatever. Part of their thing is to provide a Christian interpretation of Passover, Sukkot and Hanukkah, and explain what they consider messianic elements and how they believe these festivals are related to Jesus.

You can sort of imagine that such an organization would have plenty of room for crazy. And Brickner does indeed deliver. In 2008 he argued that the deaths in the Jerusalem bulldozer attack were ”God’s punishment” for Jews having failed to convert to Christianity (full transcript here). That would be controversial in itself, and it didn’t help that they were made at the Wasilla Bible Church, Sarah Palin’s church, a week before Palin was chosen as vice-presidential candidate for McCain (Palin was present). More here.

Diagnosis: Apparently his organization remains rather popular (though a google search reveals plenty of conflicts), so Brickner cannot be completely dismissed as unimportant. I am not sure it is necessary to point out that he’s batshit insane.

#523: Michael Bresciani

Michael Bresciani has some serious issues with … you guessed it: gays and lesbians (probably mostly gay men):

”In our world most of those spreading the gay lie are liberals, activists, spineless academicians, Hollywood sellouts, and now we can throw in a president and a large contingent of fully duped politicians … There is little doubt that the entire gay and lesbian community is guided by a powerful demon spirit who is subordinate to Satan.”

I am not sure Bresciani knows exactly what “lie” means.

His day job is to be a Christian author and a columnist for several online sites and magazines, most notably Alan Keyes’s RenewAmerica. According to his bio, “[h]is articles are now read in every country in the world,” which presumably means that they are read in the US because that’s the only country that matters. Bresciani has a very literal view of hell, and explains in detail how it is organized (musings fascinatingly reminiscent of helpless medieval neo-Platonist scholars and comic book authors). Alcoholics are apparently possessed by Satan as well.

Wait; possessed? Yes, possessed by demonic angels. According to Bresciani:

“The demoniac of Gadara (Lk 8: 26f) was said to have, not one devil, but an entire legion of devils. That is about 6,000 devils in that one man alone. What makes us think that there are not enough devils for everyone in our world who steps into Satan's kingdom? One third of the angels departed from the presence of God when Satan left [no citation; seems to rely on Milton]. That could be a number we could not fully imagine.”

I don’t think most people disagreeing with Bresciani disagrees primarily over the numbers of devils. The quote is from Bresciani’s defense of Daniel Avila, the “marriage guy” of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, who has himself argued that Satan was responsible for homosexuality but later (non-)apologized. Bresciani didn’t accept the apology, apparently, though for the wrong reasons.

He’s also a renowned birther and a staunch defender of Ray Comfort (he shows up in the comments here to defend him).

Diagnosis: Amazingly deranged and ignorant Taliban fundie with a strong nostalgia for early Medieval Times and the appurtenant cartoon interpretation of the Bible. Dangerous.

#522: Barbara Brennan

Barbara Ann Brennan is an author and intuitive healer who works in the field of “energy healing”. According to the Watkins Review she was the 94th most spiritually influential person in the world in 2011. Brennan has pretty much adopted every conceivable form of imaginary woo, from Wilhelm Reich’s Orgone energy to chakras and astral healing, as well as most other typical crank baggage, such as promoting herself as a doctor of philosophy (Greenwich University) and doctor of theology (C. Norman Shealy’s Holos University), both from unaccredited diploma mills.

Brennan’s first book, Hands of Light: A Guide to Healing Through the Human Energy Field, is still viewed as a classic among the reality impaired. In writing it Brennan claimed to “receive intuitive information about her clients during sessions, and to see repetitive patterns in the energy fields of her clients indicating common roots underlying their difficulties”, and the whole thing is a mess of auras, “energy fields” that interact with each other, and promotion of “the seven-layermodel of the energy field, each layer being structured of differing frequencies and kinds of energy and performing different functions.” The chakras are supposedly transformers that receive and process universal energy. It is hard to believe that Brennan actually believes any of the bullshit she’s spewing.

According to Wikipedia Brennan “is best known for taking a methodical, scientific approach to energy healing,” but – suffice to say – it is doubtful that anyone taking Brennan seriously has the faintest clue about what a scientific approach implies (hint: “let anecdotal evidence take you where you want to go” is not a scientific approach).

As mentioned Brennan has developed “energy healing techniques” (she calls them “full spectrum healing”) to work on the seven layers of the human energy field or auras, including what she calls “spiritual surgery” applied to the “fifth level” using the power of a spirit surgeon. It really is all about energy, and neither Brennan nor her adherents understand what energy actually is (hint: energy is not a buzzing, glowing, luminescent. magical cloud surrounding objects that one can tap into by the right means – even if focusing one’s will were “the right means”).

In 1982, she established the Barbara Brennan School of Healing, designed to train professional healers in Florida, which has come to be known as one of the epitomes of New Age healing. It is licensed by the State of Florida Commission for Independent Education (i.e., it is unaccredited) and listed here. She herself has moved to Austria to open more branches of the school (there are branches in Austria, Germany, and Japan).

Brennan has a listing in Quackwatch’s helpful Dictionary of Metaphysical Healthcare, Alternative Medicine, Paranormal Healing, and Related Methods.

Diagnosis: The epitome of New Age healing, few people do woo more thoroughly than Barbara Brennan. She’s had a lot of influence and must be considered a dangerous enemy of reason and reality.

#521: Josh Brecheen

Josh Brecheen is an Oklahoma State senator who also owns a motivational speaking business (Brecheen Keynotes and Seminars). Now, when January 2011 marked the opening of a new legislative session in the State senates (as all Januaries do), some idiots have – they always do – to present a ”teach teh controversy” or outright anti-evolution bill. Brecheen was responsible for Oklahoma’s in2011.

Copied and pasted right out of the Discovery Institute’s anti-science strategy ”Academic Freedom”, Brecheen’s version stated that local education administrators ”shall not prohibit any teacher from informing students about relevant scientific information regarding either the scientific strengths or scientific weaknesses of controversial topics in sciences, when being taught in accordance with adopted standards and curricula,” where such topics “include but are not limited to biological origins of life and biological evolution.” That is, “teach all the science”. Of course, the fact that evolution is not a scientifically controversial issue and creationism is not a scientific theory is uninteresting, and what the law is supposed to do is to let any and every teacher spread the most egregious nonsense to students without having to stand up for it.

Brecheen’s defense of the bill was, predictably, filled with all the usual creationist talking points, including conspiracy mongering (“Renowned scientists now asserting thatevolution is laden with errors [curiously none are mentioned] are being ignored”). Fortunately, as every such “Academic Freedom” sponsor is wont to do, they disregard the Discovery Institute’s stealth recommendation and tell the media what they are really trying to achieve. Brecheen promptly spilled the beans: “I have introduced legislation requiring every publically funded Oklahoma school to teach the debate of creation vs. evolution using the known science, even that which conflicts with Darwin's religion.” He admitted that “One of the bills I will file this year may be dismissed as inferior by ‘intellectuals’”. Indeed.

Diagnosis: Dense dullhead with no aptitude for critical thinking, not the faintest what science is or how it works, and no understanding of the fact that he lacks a clue. Such incompetence won’t prevent you from getting into positions of power, however, so Brecheen cannot be completely dismissed as harmless.