Verifying Religious Experience

Question 1

List the 5 main challenges to verifying religious experiences

Answer 1

1. We only have the word of the individual who claims they had the experience
2. They are subjective/private experiences/feeling so they’re ‘just in the mind’
3. They’re ineffable - those who experience them, can’t describe them, os there’s nothing ‘real’ to describe
4. There are contradictory religious experiences so can’t all be true
5. They are so extraordinary and rare as to see

Question 2

Which scholar founded the principle of credulity and testimony

Answer 2

Richard Swinburne

Question 3

True or false: Richard Swinburne believes that religious experience cannot support the existence of God

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Explain the principle of credulity

Answer 4

We should assume things are credible unless we have evidence that proves otherwise

‘We ought to believe that things are as they seem to be, until we have evidence that we’re mistaken’

Question 5

Swinburne’s stance on the existence of God

Answer 5

God cannot be proved through logical arguments e.g., ontological, however, experiences of the world suggest that God probably exists and religious experiences are part of this probability argument

Question 6

Explain the principle of testimony

Answer 6

We should assume people are telling the truth unless we have evidence that proves otherwise.

In the absence of special considerations, the experiences of others are probably as they report them

Question 7

Explain the quote:’On our total evidence, theism is more probable than not’

Answer 7

• If you take all evidence of God, theism is more probable than not
• More likely God exists, hence why we should be inclined to believing these experiences

Question 8

Explain the quote:’We ought to believe that things are as they seem to be, until, we have evidence that they’re mistaken’

Answer 8

• Supported by Occam’s razor, if the experience appears to be God, it probably is
• Supported by ‘innocent until proven guilty’ - representative of UK justice system
• Plato would criticise this

Question 9

Explain the quote:’Just as you muster trust your 5 ordinary senses, it is equally rational to trust your religious sense’

Answer 9

• There is an extra religious sense everyone has, you should trust this like your 5 empirical senses
• Plato would criticise this

Question 10

List the 4 main strengths to Swinburne’s principles

Answer 10

1. Transformation is lifestyle and outlook is powerful - proves it is genuine, someone has changed their life, must have meaning. see notes if unsure
2. Accounts for special considerations e.g., drugs
3. Reflects how humans have to navigate through life - we would not be able to get through life if we demanded absolute proof before accepting peoples testimony - ‘if you say…never trust appearances until it is proved that they are reliable, you will never have beliefs at all’
4. Swinburne makes an inductive argument, hence, acknowledging his method isn’t absolutely perfect

Question 11

List the 3 main criticisms to Swinburne’s principles

Answer 11

1. Dubious claim - he says normal sense experience is reliable, therefore RE is reliable for evidence for the existence of God
2. Personal testimony isn’t sufficient as absolute proof - French rationalist Denis Diderot says: ‘if the entire population of Paris was to assure him that a man has been raised from the dead, he would not believe a word of it’
3. Plato - ‘body is a source of endless trouble for us’

Question 12

Explain Sigmun Freud’s criticisms of religious experience

Answer 12

‘The religions of mankind must be classed among the mass delusions of this kind’
- Visions are at best signs of immaturity and, at worst, mental illness
- Believed that religious belief in God was a result of the infantile need for a powerful ‘father figure’
- We project on God all the fatherly characteristics

Question 13

Explain Bertrand Russel’s criticisms of religious experience

Answer 13

‘There’s no difference between someone who eats too little and sees heaven and someone who drinks too much and sees snakes’
- RE’s have physiological and psychological explorations e.g., hallucinations of eating too little
- Don’t prove God’s existence because they’re delusions

Question 14

Explain Charles Stoss’ criticisms of religious experiences

Answer 14

‘One ape’s hallucination is another ape’s religious experience’
- Apparent RE’s are misinterpretations
- Human’s wrongly interpret physiologically originating experiences as divine, as a result of social influence
- If you had a religious upbringing, you’re likely to interpret an event as a religious experience, whereas, an atheist upbringing is more likely to lead to the interpretation of a hallucination.

Question 15

Suggest 2 general criticisms to religious experiences

Answer 15

1. We only have the world of the individual
2. Only certain people have them, meaning God is guilty of favouritism (denies OB)

Question 16

Explain Sigmund Freud’s challenge to RE and the response from religion

Answer 16

• Argued religion is wish-fulfilment
• God helps us to control our fear of the unknown death
• Fears around death and the unknown are ‘infantile’ and ‘neurotic’
• Religious visions and mystical experiences are hallucinations caused by the need to have control over our helpless state

Response from religion
- Is a hypothesis that cannot be tested

Question 17

Explain temporal lobe epilepsy’s challenge to RE and the response from religion

Answer 17

• People with TLE are prone to having RE
• St Paul could have had TLE which explains his vision on the road to Damascus
• This was explained by Schweitzer who claimed ‘the most natural hypothesis’ was that he had an epileptic fit
• Research shows TLE self generates RE’s, meaning they’re not from God

Response from religion
- If God wants to give use RE’s, he needs to do them in a way that the brain can process them. The brain is our only way of processing information.
- The frontal and temporal lobes may be where God operates

Question 18

Explain Persinger’s challenge to RE and the response from religion

Answer 18

• Neuroscience suggests that RE’s are triggered by electrical stimulation of the temporal lobes
• God helmet research was done by Persinger
• Used magnetic coils placed on either side of the brain to stimulate the temporal lobes
• Results indicated mystical states, visions of God, sensing the presence of spiritual beings
• If neuroscience can replicate aspects of RE’s, this suggests that RE’s are specific states of the brain and not from God

Responses from religion
- Believers accept that the mind can also generate RE’s to interact with God
- People don’t have to wait, they can reach out to God themselves

Question 19

Explain Pankhe’s challenge to RE’s and the response by religion

Answer 19

• Entheogens generate the divine from within
• Pankhe conducted a scientific study of 20 theology students at Harvard Divinity school - ‘The Good Friday experiment’
• 10 were given psilocybin, others were given a placebo
• Those who took the drug felt similar experiences to the ‘God helmet’
• People access higher levels of consciousness when their temporal and frontal lobes are stimulated

Responses from religion
- William James - great mystics who reach out to experience God deliberately
- It does not matter how that religious experience is brought about - the mystic can have a RE through drugs or any altered state of consciousness

Question 20

Select the correct answer: Swinburne’s principles of credulity and testimony act as criticisms/supporting arguments to scientific challenges to religious experiences

Answer 20

Criticisms

Question 21

The four influences of religious experiences

Answer 21

1. Foundational
2. Inspirational
3. Life changing
4. Experience of pilgrimage

Question 22

Explain an example of a foundation religious experience

Answer 22

Muhammad (PBUH) had a series of revelations on the cave on Mount Hira for 23 years (full explanation in notes) OR Siddartha Gautama may be used

Question 23

Explain an example of an inspirational religious experience

Answer 23

Saul’s conversion

Question 24

Explain an example of a life changing conversion in religious experiences

Answer 24

Saul/Siddartha Gautama

Question 25

Explain an example of an experience of pilgrimage in religious experiences

Answer 25

St Bernedette

Question 26

Explain why religious experiences have value for religious faith

Answer 26

• They are foundations of many traditions
• Confrim faith
• Cumulative argument
• They are life changing
• Why would anybody make up an experience?

Question 27

Explain why religious experiences have little value for religious faith

Answer 27

• Karl Bath - God can only be known through Jesus Christ revealed in scripture
• Can’t be verified
• Kiekergard - ‘faith requires a leap of faith’
• God is beyond comprehension, he cannot be known, so people must be lying or misinterpreting
• God is being selective - unfair