Pious fraud (Latin: pia fraus) is used to describe fraud in religion or medicine. A pious fraud can be counterfeiting a miracle or falsely attributing a Pseudepigraph due to the belief that the "Consequentialism", in this case the end of increasing faith by whatever means available.
William W. Howells wrote that know that their tricks are impostures, but that all who studied them agree that they really believe in their power to deal with spirits. According to Howells, their main purpose is an honest one and they believe that this justifies the means of hoodwinking their followers in minor technical matters.William Howells, 1962. The Heathens: Primitive Man and his Religions New York City: National Museum of American History [1] in Robert S. Ellwood Civilized Shamans: Sacred Biography and Founders of New Religious Movements, in New Religions in a Postmodern World edited by Mikael Rothstein and Reender Kranenborg (Studies in New Religions Aarhus University Press) 2003
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