1.4. Arguments from Religious Experience

• Religious experiences are often cited as evidence for the existence of God.


  True
• Corporate religious experiences strengthen communal bonds.


  True
• The argument from corporate experience asserts that shared religious experiences provide evidence for the existence of a higher power
• Religious experiences can be differentiated into two main types
• Personal religious experiences occur within the individual's own consciousness
• Corporate religious experiences are experienced collectively by a group or community
• Critics argue that personal religious experiences are highly subjective
• Match the type of religious experience with its characteristic:

  Personal Religious Experience ↔️ Individual encounter

  Corporate Religious Experience ↔️ Shared by a group
• What is the overall conclusion about the validity of religious experience arguments?

  Inconclusive but debated
• Religious experience refers to a personal encounter or interaction with the divine, sacred, or ultimate reality
• Collective worship is an example of a corporate religious experience
• Critics argue that personal religious experiences may be explained by psychological factors.

  True
• Match the type of religious experience with its characteristic:

  Personal Religious Experience ↔️ Highly subjective

  Corporate Religious Experience ↔️ Collectively experienced
• Corporate religious experiences provide direct, personal evidence of the divine.

  False
• Both personal and corporate religious experiences are often cited as evidence for the existence of God.


  True
• Corporate religious experiences are always authentic encounters with the divine.

  False
• The argument from corporate experience can be weakened by the influence of group psychology
• Match the type of religious experience with its description:

  Personal Religious Experience ↔️ Subjective, individual encounters with the divine

  Corporate Religious Experience ↔️ Shared, communal experiences of the sacred
• The argument from personal experience states that individual religious experiences provide direct, subjective evidence for the existence of God
• Critics argue that corporate religious experiences may be products of group psychology.

  True
• Personal religious experiences are shared and communal encounters.

  False
• What is an example of a personal religious experience?

  Mystical experience
• What is an example of a corporate religious experience?

  Collective worship
• What is the argument from corporate experience based on?

  Shared religious encounters
• Arrange the following objections and counterarguments to religious experience in logical pairs:

  1️⃣ Lack of Verifiability

  2️⃣ Ineffability

  3️⃣ Psychological Explanations

  4️⃣ Cumulative Evidence

  5️⃣ Cultural Influence

  6️⃣ Transformation and Impact