Claimed apparitions coincided with concentration camps nearby without changing pilgrims’ behavior

Evidence

Catholic theologians maintain that a true vision will lead to changed and morally responsible behavior on the part of those who experience it. If the Madonna of Medjugorje did insist on peace one wonders why those who heard her message gave such little thought to the Muslims confined to concentration camps at Gabela, Capljina, Dretelj, Ljubuski, and Rodoc, all within a few miles of Medjugorje. Did those busloads of pilgrims, filled with inner light and joy, hear the screams from the other side of the Medjugorje hills? — Michael A. Sells, The Bridge Betrayed, 296

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: The juxtaposition of mass spiritual fervor with moral blindness to proximate atrocity is a searing, paradigm-shifting refutation of the claim that religious experience produces moral behavior — theologically devastating and socially significant.
• SEED: A potential essay on spiritual experience as morally inert or even narcotic — the gap between ecstatic community and ethical action.