A lot of damage has been done to the idea of wellness by “faith healers.” They are not as prevalent in present day American culture as they once were. Decades ago, people with ailments of all sorts would flock to the services of radio / television preacher Oral Roberts. He had the reputation of laying his hands on the diseased parts of the bodies of his supplicants and praying over them. Frequently he would conclude his ritual by commanding the person, “Be healed!”

Some of the sick pilgrims claimed they were made well. Many admitted afterwards that nothing really changed. On rare occasion someone would reveal that they were complicit in a scheme to make a dramatic healing appear to have happened when, in fact, no such thing really had.

The activity of faith healers raises a legitimate qu…