[UA] Police seize magic trick from preacher

[Bastien Pilon]

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/070710/odds/odd_uganda_preacher_dc


KAMPALA (Reuters) - Ugandan police are holding a Ghanaian preacher
over a stage magic device they fear may dupe people into believing
they have experienced miracles.

Customs officials seized the Electric Touch device -- which magicians
use to give small electric shocks to volunteers -- from "Prophet"
Obiri Yeboah at the airport last week, the state owned New Vision
daily reported Tuesday.

The pastor heads one of many Pentecostal churches in Uganda, receiving
large sums of money from congregations seeking miracle cures for
diseases or help with financial problems.

The Electric Touch device is usually sold in magic shops alongside
card tricks, magic coins and disappearing balls.

"With a simple touch, make a fluorescent bulb glow on and off at your
command, make confetti move, charge a spoon and watch as it shocks a
volunteer!" says one online magic shop selling the device.

"People could be duped to think it is a miracle," the New Vision
quoted Civil Aviation Authority security chief Herman Owomugisha as
saying.

Officials are worried about the proliferation of "miracle" churches in
Uganda, many of which claim to cure HIV/AIDS.

-- 
Over the centuries, mankind has tried many ways of combating the
forces of evil...prayer, fasting, good works and so on. Up until Doom,
no one seemed to have thought about the double-barrel shotgun. Eat
leaden death, demon...
 - Terry Pratchett

"It's a sad fact that there are a lot of people out there whose first
reaction to anything miraculous, wondrous and new consists of two
questions. The first is 'Can I have sex with it?', closely followed by
'Can I make money off it?'"
 - Dirk Allen