Religious experience

Examples of religious experience

Story of Pentecost - the crowd experienced the same mighty winds and fountains of fire Toronto blessing - euphoric sensation and uncontrollable laughter Lourdes healing -

Edwin Starbucks

Most conversions occur in early adulthood. This can be explained naturally by a persons view deviating from their parents and society not God.

Swinburnes private experiences

A personal experience that can be described through normal language A personal experience that cannot be described by normal experience, it is ineffable A constant regular feeling of gods presence

Humes 5 arguments against miracles

- a wise person supports the side with more evidence, jesus walking on water is less believable than not, because humans cant walk on water - Choose the lesser miracle, for a miracle to be true denying the miracle must be more miraculous than accepting it - There must be adequate witness testimony, witnesses must be well-educated and intelligent, they should have a reputation to lose and nothing to gain from a claim, a sufficient amount of people must have experienced it (corporate) - Following this, Hume claims that miracles often come from "ignorant and barbarous [uncivilised] nations", making miracle stories unreliable. For example, many of the claims of miracles in the Bible are made by poor, uneducated fishermen and peasants, which Hume argues is not an adequate source. - Finally, Hume argues that miracles in other religions cancel each other out, as not all religions can be true. Miracles from Hinduism or Buddhism, he argues, cancel out those from Christianity or Islam. As such, Hume suggests that instead of picking just one to believe in, they should all be denied.

Rudolf Otto

Believed that the essence of religion cannot be deduced from looking at just rational premises, we need to look at irrational premises to gain a real understanding of religion The essence of religion is the numinous, the mysterium (sense of otherworldliness), the tremendum(the awe inspiring fear) and the fascinans (the potent charm) Religious languages try to describe an inexpressable experience

Huxley

Believed that the subconscious may simply be a conduit of spiritual reality, and drugs may remove a "survival filter" that our brains utilise to allow us to function in the real world, so drugs may help with this spiritual connection

Schielmacher

Believes all religious experiences are self authenticated so corporate and individual experiences are both truthful

Criticisms of Hume

Butler says just because something is unlikely does not mean it should be ruled out, random things happen all the time Mill says that Miracles seem improbable even after they happen, but everyday random occurrences don't CD Broad Hume limits science, lots of what was thought is impossible is possible now All of his claims are too imprecise Miracles don't need to break the laws of nature, they can be extremely unlikely and still be attributed to God

Arguments against corporate experiences

Could be mass hysteria Neuropsychological explanations (magnetic fields and god helmet show this) They could all be lying

Conversion arguments against

Edwin Starbucks- most conversions occur in early adulthood. This can be explained naturally by a persons view deviating from their parents and society not God. 1. The individual is dissatisfied with their current 'system of ideas.' People who are content are less likely to be converted. 2. The person searches, at an intellectual and emotional level, for a basis on which to make a decision i.e. turning to the Bible or going to church. 3. There is an emotional crisis point where the person often feels God's presence as well as a feeling of sinfulness and then repentance. Sometimes the experience is described in terms of visions, voices and bright lights. 4. The person feels a sense of peace and joy and they lose their worries. They have a desire to talk to others and share their experience. 5. In the longer term they may experience a change in direction in life (new career) and a new sense of purpose. Lionel Tiger neuropsychological mechanisms create impression of religious experiences. AJ Ayer Verification Principle. (if something cannot be empirically proven, then it is meaningless)

Conversions arguments for

Examples of conversion experiences recorded in scriptures and in the modern day raise interesting issues. Although the inner experience is not empirically detectable, the resulting, long term, changes in behaviour are something which can be empirically observed. William James argued that, as with all religious experience, it's truth was to be found in the results. Hence dramatic changes in the character and lifestyle of an individual does count as empirical evidence in favour of spiritual claims. Psychologists John Lofland and Rodney Stark conducted a study of conversion in 1965 and noted the pattern which can be seen in all kinds of conversions. There is an element of 'passivity' to conversion experiences as believers often speak of something or someone acting upon them. (Link to James)

Feurbach

God of the gaps, we just attribute things to God because of our own fears, it is comforting (similair) to Freud)

James 4 conditions

Ineffable - experience beyond proper description - no adequate description can be given in words. Language limitations prevent description. Noetic - not just 'feelings,' but a deep and direct knowledge of God which could not have been achieved through reason alone. The 'truth' was revealed to them Transient - the experience is temporary and cannot be sustained, although its effects may last a long time. It can develop and deepen with subsequent experiences and the effects can last a lifetime Passive - experience not initiated by the mystic but rather they have a sense that something is acting upon them. The experience is controlled from outside themselves The heart of religious experience is the "unseen" the true reality being revealed - link to Platos cave Religous expereinces also have drastic changes to peoples lives

Andrew Newburg

The brain seems hardwired for God, neural functioning can change if you believe in God for long enough so this change may be the reason for religious experiences

Swinburne

The principle of credulity - we must accept what appears to be the case unless we have clear evidence to the contrary. The clear evidence might mean that you have good reason to doubt the person, you prove that God does not exist or you show the experience was not caused by God. The principle of testimony - unless we have positive evidence that they are misremembering or are untrustworthy, we should believe the testimony of the experience. He claims that "other things being equal, we usually think that what others tell us that they perceive, probably happened" Whatever is said to happen, probably happened

Arguments for religious experience

There are many cases of conversion from religious experience so the idea that people attribute random experiences to religion is somewhat rebutted, but conversion still involves religous themes Very substantial numbers of ordinary people report having had such experiences, though this isn't to say that religious believers aren't ordinary. clarification needed Such experiences are reported in almost all known cultures. These experiences often have very significant effects on people's lives, frequently inducing in them acts of extreme self-sacrifice well beyond what could be expected from evolutionary arguments. These experiences often seem very real to the people involved, and are quite often reported as being shared by a number of people.Although mass delusions are not inconceivable, one needs compelling reasons for invoking this as an explanation. Swinburne suggests that, as two basic principles of rationality, we ought to believe that things are as they seem unless and until we have evidence that they are mistaken (principle of credulity), and that those who do not have an experience of a certain type ought to believe others who say that they do in the absence of evidence of deceit or delusion (principle of testimony) and thus, although if you have a strong reason to disbelieve in the existence of God you will discount these experiences, in other cases such evidence should count towards the existence of God. The feelings that people claim to feel during a religious experience are so different from normal feelings suggests that they cannot come from a normal source, this suggests God. .

Arguments against religious experience

They happen very rarely Hardly informative Experiences aren't a matter of perception, we tend to trust perception because we witness what others witness, but this isn't the case with religious experience Experiences are something we feel, which is subjective and can sometimes be irrational and wrong People may impose some certain religous ideas onto experiences (Bertrand Russel) The fact that a belief has a good moral effect upon a man is no evidence whatsoever in favour of its truth" - he argued that it might be possible for someone to be profoundly affected for the good by a story about a great hero, but this could happen even if the story were a myth and the hero was entirely fictional. Antony Flew in 'Theology and Falsification' concluded that statements which cannot be tested empirically are meaningless. He would therefore reject James' test of religious experience through its results in the life of individuals.

Objections to Freud

We cant evaluate the truth of something just by its origin, we must look at the real true effects of the experience the unconscious may be a conduit of a spiritual reality. If we are made by God, then our "wish" to be comforted by him and with him is entirely realistic Religion may not be as "comforting" as Freud suggests

Visions

Where an individual believes that they have seen or heard something supernatural Intellectual: Brings knowledge and understanding Imaginary: something seen strengthens faith (dreams) Corporeal: Some external vision Julian of Norwich received visions

Swinburne's public experiences

You see, God's actions, flower is the hand of god, the sun is the face of God A breach of natural law, like miracles, water into wine

Freuds idea of religious experiences

hallucinations that come from very deep in the human psyche that date back to the need for consolation and reassurance Because we are faced with so much uncertainty and danger in life, we are helpless and need protection so look to a God, our relationship to God is like the relationship we have with our parents It is a belief that is based on a wish, rather than n evidence and truth, its an illusion, a fugazi doesnt mean its not true, just didnt start from truthful premises