Embracing the spiritual?

Did anyone see 'Revelations' on channel 4 last night? The programme – Talking to the Dead – looked at...

Hang on. This sounds familiar. And perhaps I do watch too much TV. But it has been a good series hasn't it? Last night they were looking at spiritualist churches and the people who attend them.

My thoughts about spiritualist churches before watching the program were not positive. A seriously ill and very trusting friend of mine was recently terrified by a spiritualist devotee who told her that she had seen an evil spirit on her, which was causing her disease. This led to weeks of worry by my friend, who was wracking her brain, trying to figure out how she had invited Satan into her life. I was not impressed. Downright furious in fact.

But last night's programme simply made me sad. In general, the 'church' members featured were grieving, lonely, and really reaching out for something to fill an aching void in their lives. One man had a terrible childhood and, in his own words, was actively hated by his father. He only felt a sense of relief when his father came to him from the 'other side' after his death and said sorry.

Although, against my expectations, there were also some very surprising followers. A GP, who seemed like a very well-rounded man of science, attended the church and saw what seemed to be scarily accurate visions of people's dead relatives and friends. He admitted he had no idea where they came from, and certainly didn't attribute them to a 15th century Persian spirit guide (which was a bit of a theme among the other mediums), but he was very sincere.

And it was never really explained why the meeting places were called 'churches'. There were pictures of Jesus dotted around the hall, but it was explained that the movement believes Jesus to be a medium, rather than a divine son of God figure.

On the whole, my cynicism remained. But as the interviewer said, are Christians asked to believe anything less extraordinary? That in Holy Communion, we eat the body and drink the blood of Christ? That a working class man in the Israeli countryside talked to demons, healed crippling illnesses without even touching people and brought people back 'from the other side'?