On June 24 and 26, 1981, six children in the little village of Medjugorje in Bosnia (former Yugoslavia) claimed to have had a vision of the Virgin Mary. In the days and weeks that followed, more alleged visions occurred, and reports began to attract visitors anxious for a vision of their own. From 1981 until 2010, approximately 30 million people, many from the United States visited Medjugorje, and many reported that their hopes were fulfilled. By the time these visits began, claims of visions were popping up everywhere, to the obvious glee of the charismatic pastor of the local church. However, not everyone accepted the authenticity of these visions. Among the detractors was the local bishop, Pavao Zanic, who, on July 25, 1987, issued a declaration that included the following:

The Madonna, they say, started to appear on the Podbrdo [a hamlet] of the Mountain Crnica, but when the militia forbade going there, she came into homes, into forests, fields, vineyards and tobacco fields; she appeared in the church, on the altar, in the sacristy, in the choir loft, on the roof, on the church steeple, on the roads, on the way to Cerno, in a car, on buses, in classrooms, in several places in Mostar and Sarajevo, in monasteries in Zagreb, Verazdin, Switzerland, Italy, once again in the Podbrdo, atop Krizevac, in the parish, in the rectory, etc. It is certain that not even half of the alleged places where the apparitions have taken place have been mentioned. . . .

In 1991, after a lengthy inquiry, the Yugoslavian Bishops Conference issued a statement that nothing miraculous had occurred at Medjugorje; nevertheless, thousands of pilgrims continue to stream into the village even to this day. Also, the original six visionaries continue to claim apparitions of the Virgin.

How do you think all these visions are best explained? Do you think they are evidence of miracles? Or, could collective hallucination be responsible? Do people see what they want to see? What is your estimate of the average annual economic benefit that 30 million visitors would bring to a small village over a span of twenty-nine years? Do you think that this benefit has anything to do with the motives of the original six visionaries? Do you think that the pilgrims to Medjugorje are prone to superstition?

The philosopher Paul Kurtz suggests that religion, with its emphasis on miracles and the supernatural, sensitizes people to believe in the superstitious and the paranormal. Do you think that Kurtz is correct in this assessment? Is there any essential difference between the miraculous and the superstitious? If so, is there any evidence to support this difference? (Paul Kurtz, "Reflections on the 'Transcendental Temptation,' " in Frazier, 1991, 13-16.)