Religious Experience

• Paul's conversion is described in the book of Acts. He hears the voice of Christ which caused him to fall off his horse. After being blinded for three days, he became a devoted follower of Christ.
• Joan of Arc was born in 1412 in France. She claimed to have visions of St. Margaret, St. Catherine, and St. Michael. They told her to reclaim an area of France from Burgundy. She led a battle dressed as a man, and was later burnt three times at the stake. Before she died, she requested to look at a crucifix.
• William James was a 19th and 20th century philosopher and psychologist.

  In 1902, he published 'The Varieties in Religious Experience.'

  He thought religion was the feelings, acts and experiences of individuals in solitude .

  He believed that primary individual religious experiences came before second hand religious life, such as churches, theologies and holy texts.
• In his lectures, he asserted that religious experiences often have four things in common:

  Passive - the feeling that the person is not in control

  Ineffable - the experience is difficult to put into words

  Noetic - The person gained knowledge through intuition, which would not be accessible via human experience

  Transient - Experience lasted a short time
• James argued that conversion experiences are the strongest evidence for the divine, because they are observable and life-changing. He considers religion pragmatic and beneficial to human kind.

  Conversions can change people from being morbid-minded, to being healthy-minded. Those who escaped pessimism were called twice born. This is similar to born again Christians, who emphasise the importance of a personal relationship with Christ.
• James' mind-cure movement highlights various fruits of conversion:

  • A conviction of something beyond the material world
  • a feeling of elation and freedom
  • a feeling of self-surrender after meeting a friendly power
  • a more spiritual, charitable, morally aware and in awe emphasis of life
• Richard Swinburne writes on Christian apologetics, and classifies religious experiences into five categories.

  Public:

  • a normal phenomenon i.e. a sunset
  • an unusual public event i.e. a resurrection
  • Private:
  • an experience which can be easily described i.e. a dream
  • an experience which cannot be described in everyday language i.e. a mystical experience
  • a conviction where God has been experienced in some way but there is a lack of material evidence i.e. a feeling
• Swinburne uses two arguments to suggest that we should believe testimonies of religious experiences.

  Principle of Credulity - We should believe things are as they appear to be, until we have evidence that they are not.

  Just as we should trust physical experiences, we should trust religious experiences. For example, a colour blind man may see different colours, but he should not doubt what he is seeing.
• Principe of Testimony - We usually believe what others tell us.

  Stephan Unwin (University of Cambridge) calculated that there is a 67% chance of an omnipotent being existing, which adds to why we should believe testimony.
• William James suggested that individuals who follow different religions often lead similar lives i.e. a Buddhist and Christian monk.

  As religion is subjective, it is teachings post-experience which have led to the development of different religions.

  He thought religion is the belief in an unseen order, which requires us to adjust our ways of thinking.
• William James takes a pragmatic pluralist approach to religion, describing it as a subjective psychological phenomena, arguing that there is no logical argument in which we can prove God exists
• James states that religious experiences do not fully justify a belief in God, but the divine cannot be ruled out. They point to a union with something larger, which allows us to find supreme comfort and peace. We may be justified in adopting an over belief, without sufficient evidence, to help us lead a fuller better life
• Psychologist Feurbach argues that god is a psychological construct, formed from human desires. A desire for goodness or control led to a belief in an omnipotent God.
• Sigmund Freud argued that religion is a neurosis (repression.) Religious experiences are a regression to the safety and comfort of infancy, in which our minds attempt to fulfill our need for a father figure by cresting God to protect us.

  Religion was also an early attempt to control our id, which can now be discarded in favour of science and reason.
• Drugs, alcohol and vitamin deficiencies are know to have mind-altering effects. Hallucinogens ie LSD are know to have similar effects as religious experiences. However, some people know these are entheogens, are they believe they generate the divine from within. Use of psychoactive substances can cause delusions such as schizophrenia, which could also appear to be a religious experience
• In 1997, Michael Persinger used his 'God helmet,' which sent weakly charged magnetic waves across subjects' brains. Subjects reported feeling a sense of 'other' come over them.

  He wanted to show that religious experiences are the brain's response ot external stimuli, and not caused by God.
• Temporal Lobe epilepsy causes abnormal states in the brain, which could be misinterpreted as religious experiences. St Paul displays some symptoms of TLE such as hearing voices and temporary blindness.
• The correspondence theory of truth - Truth is a connection to reality. To be true is to accurately describe the real world.

  The coherence theory of truth - If a theory coheres with all true prepositions, then it is true.

  The pragmatic theory of truth - A statement is true if it is useful

  Logical Positivism - The only meaningful philosophical problems are solved by logical analysis
• The 1994 Toronto Blessing took place in the Toronto Vineyard Church. Many people were slain by the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues, which is common in charismatic worship. People also make birthing groans and acted like animals However, some Christians believe it was a demonic possession, including signs such as physical spasms.
• French sociologist Emile Durkham argues that religion gives rise to euphoria known as collective effervescence. It could be caused by the placebo effect, where a different stimulus is associated with the effect than the actual one. Corporate religious experiences could also be mass hysteria, caused by a desire to fit in.