Analyse the key concepts of Religious experience as an argument for the existence of God.
Shaun Lock Religious Studies Analyse the key concepts of Religious experience as an argument for the existence of God. Firstly the argument is of an ‘a posterioi’ nature, therefore it is inductive. This means the argument uses data and evidence from which conclusions are drawn. The argument of experience must involve a sense of encounter, the experience of the encounter therefore has been seen, felt and sensed and therefore making the experience exist to us (Hume). These experiences seem to be widespread throughout society and therefore can be claimed to be a normal occurrence. David Hay in his book “The Spiritual Experience of the British” in 1979 his findings are counter-intuitive, his findings show that roughly 50% of the sample reported having had a religious experience of some form. It also showed that more woman had had an experience than men, better educated people had more religious experiences than lesser educated. There are a range of different types of religious
experiences, for instance, there are subjective experiences (the meaning and value of the experience is personal), there are relative experiences, these have meaning and value to a person as a member of a group; lastly there are Objective experiences. These experiences are of a factual nature and remain true irrespective of the person’s ideas. Richard Swinburne believed that there are 5 different types of religious experience, 1) Perfectly normal non-religious experiences, 2) Unusual public experiences (Resurrection of Jesus), 3) Private sensation can be described e.g. as a dream, 4) Private sensation that cannot be described, 5) No sensation, when a ...
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experiences, for instance, there are subjective experiences (the meaning and value of the experience is personal), there are relative experiences, these have meaning and value to a person as a member of a group; lastly there are Objective experiences. These experiences are of a factual nature and remain true irrespective of the person’s ideas. Richard Swinburne believed that there are 5 different types of religious experience, 1) Perfectly normal non-religious experiences, 2) Unusual public experiences (Resurrection of Jesus), 3) Private sensation can be described e.g. as a dream, 4) Private sensation that cannot be described, 5) No sensation, when a person has a strong sense of encounter with something Holy, this is described as a sense of awe and wonder which is associated with Gods otherness/transcendence or numinous. The religious experiences have to be interpreted, this gives the possibility that interpretations will be different and that these interpretations will be personal. The interpretations result in the reliability of the experiences to be questioned, also it can be argued that the experience is just an interpretation, and that this interpretation can change. We could argue that some people are justified in interpreting their experiences religiously whilst others are justified in presenting alternative explanations for the same phenomenon. Another problem is that we know our senses can be deceived, for example Optical Illusions, this implies that perhaps religious experiences are just illusions. There are 2 possible outcomes, one is that the interpretation is of Reality “I think therefore I am” (Descartes) or it is of an opposite nature “When a man tells me God has spoken to him in a dream…..it is no more than to say he dreamed God spoke to him”. Richard Swinburne’s principle of Credulity and Testimony, help to support peoples’ interpretations of experiences by stating that people who make such claims have a right to be taken seriously. If a recipient of such an experience is normally a person who is sincere and trustworthy, the likelihood is that their testimony has strong credibility. Religious experiences are rational proof of a belief in religion/God’s existence. David Hay’s book Inner Space 1987stated that experience is wholly beyond the experience of the ordinary, that the experiences cannot be explained and that they are not common to everyone. (This therefore suggests that God is selective and only allows certain people to experience his holiness). Freud claimed that religion is simply wishful thinking and that the mind creates an illusion which is the experience to help us try and deal with the outside world. Freud thought that religion is a ‘universal obsessional neurosis’ which addresses fears about the world and society, it therefore acts as a security blanket. Freud is attacking the key ideas behind the argument of Religious experience. Otto, Rudolph 1869-1937 wrote a book called ‘The Idea of the Holy 1936’, it said that religion must derive from a being separate from this world, he claimed that a religious experience was a personal experience of the ‘numinous’ which is God. He states that the object of religious experience can be described as, “Mysterium tremendum et fascinans”. The numinous can be described as a sense of the hidden mystery parallel to our sense of beauty. The numinous is the mysterious presence of the holy, which is perceived as being both attractive and repellent, both fascinating and awe-inspiring. Ninain Smart describes the Numinous differently, as an everyday devotional experience of believers during prayer, worship or the reading of the bible, but this is open to doubt as it is considered that the experience is of sufficient intensity. William James 1842-910, points out that Religious experience must involve a sense of high order and that Religious experiences have 4 main concepts which are, 1) The experience leaves the person with an awareness of something beyond the trivial material world, 2) Elation, the person is left feeling ‘high’, 3) Experience leaves the person with the feeling of having come into contact with a benevolent and high order and 4) Experiences have an impact on life and result in change, e.g. a move towards a more spiritual, charitable and morally-aware life style. Analyse the key concepts of Religious experience as an argument for the existence of God.
