Faith and Cure

Numerous frauds, posing as godmen, offering dubious cure for diseases from cardiac illness to cancer, has been exposed lately by a popular Indian TV channel.The visual footages of these frightful therapies has left many of us dumbfounded.
In Bihar, a 'baba' was shown, jumping mercilessly on an infant. In another village, the other 'sadhu' in trance was shown thrashing hapless women, supposedly, posessed by evil spirits. In far away kerala, wailing infants were seen clutching the faithful adults, tied to forty-feet high bamboo poles and being hoisted up-in-the-air in a bizarre religious ritual. Some where else, people are seen running after a nervous elephant, just to catch the pachyderm's tail to avail the divine blessing.
The question arises, what drives popular faith in these dangerous rituals ; and what the people percieve as cure.I think, ignorance is in the root of this blind faith; rational education its only cure.But that is the tall order.Therefore, till that ideal of universalisation of education is achieved, the law enforcing agencies must put an end to these dangerous rituals.