Religious Experiences

• Religious experience


  When someone feels they have had a direct or personal experience of God
• Religious experience


  • A dream or vision where God speaks to a person
  • A miraculous healing
• First-hand experience is something we all want in life regardless of the situation
• When the life of the person who experiences God is dramatically changed

  The argument gains greater credibility
• Prayer


  One of the four types of religious experience where somebody tries to address god through thought or speaking to them
• Conversion


  Where somebody gains lots of religious knowledge about a religion when they had no knowledge of before, and then change their beliefs
• Numinous


  A feeling that someone has of a presence much greater than themselves, often because they think they are experiencing God's presence
• Miracle


  When something happens that cannot be explained by science, which may lead someone to believe in God
• It is very difficult to prove that religious experiences are real
• According to David Hume, 'There is no instance in which the best explanation is simply God did it'
• Religious experiences that occur during an illness could be explained by the person receiving medication that creates hallucinations
• Religious experiences could be simply coincidences or the person creating an experience in their mind
• Strengths of the argument for religious experiences

  • The argument supports things that believers already hold true
  • The Bible gives advice on how to spot whether someone is speaking truly or is deluded
  • While some religious experiences may be an illusion, it doesn't follow that they all are
  • Research concluded that more than 60% of people interviewed claimed to have had some sort of significant religious experience
  • Some people who have made these claims are well respected
• Richard Swinburne


  An English philosopher who has discussed different types of religious experience
• Swinburne's 5 types of religious experience

  • Experience of God or Ultimate Reality mediated through a common, public, sensory object
  • Experience of God or Ultimate Reality mediated through an unusual, public, sensory object
  • Experience of God or Ultimate Reality mediated through private sensations that can be described in normal sensory language
  • Experience of God or Ultimate Reality mediated through private sensations that cannot be described in normal sensory language
  • Experience of God or Ultimate Reality that is not mediated by any sensations
• Principle of Credulity


  Our ability to believe that something is real or true, and that we should trust our senses if we have a religious experience
• Principle of Testimony


  It is reasonable to trust the testimony of others about their religious experiences
• Freud saw religious experiences as essentially illusions, projections of the ultimate, oldest and most profound ideas that people have
• Marx believed that God was simply an imaginary projection of people's needs and the qualities that people thought were the most important
• Conversion


  The act of changing one's beliefs or worldview, often in relation to religion.
• Religious knowledge


  Understanding and awareness of religious teachings, practices, and beliefs.
• Gain lots of religious knowledge


  Rapidly acquiring a significant amount of information about a religion.
• Change their beliefs

  Altering one's personal beliefs based on new knowledge or understanding.