Religious experience is an empirical, inductive argument for the existence of God, known as the ‘primary datum of religion.’ It features in all world religions, for example in Christianity, Mary’s vision of angel Gabriel. The Religious Experience Research Unit found that 31% of English and 35% of Americans claimed to have experienced a powerful being providing evidence that a key strength to religious experience is the numerous amounts of cases.
Richard Swinburne categorises religious experience into 2 types, private and public. Public experiences can be everyday experiences such as the beauty of this world or can be extraordinary experiences that stand out from everyday life. Private experiences can be personal experiences such as dreams, ineffable experiences, for example Teresa Alvia says the could not explain what she had seen experiences of God which are non-specific. Swinburne says that ‘a omnipotent and perfectly good God would want to interact with his creations out of love for them.’ This is a strength for religious experiences as many claim to have public/ private experiences were they feel the presence of God. Swinburne says that ‘theism is more probable than not,’ using the cumulative effect, there is no such argument which can prove that God is not real.
The principle of credulity and Principle of Testimony is a major strength as it shows a logical idea to religious experience. ‘Credulity’ means a willingness to believe. As we should trust our senses, we should also believe someone when they say they have experienced God. Unless the person proves to be non-trustworthy, for example a notorious liar or someone under the influence of drugs, then we should believe people as we have no reason not to. Swinburne says that the way things seem usually are the way things are; if someone claims to have an experience then it is most probable that they actually did.
The principle of Testimony emphasises that as rational human beings, one should be trusted therefore we should believe people. Unless we can prove they have been mistaken, what they have said should be taken as the truth.
William James also identified a ‘varieties of religious experience,’ highlighting a strength for religious experience in being able to show the differences between them. The types are passivity, ineffability, noetic quality and transcience. Passivity describes the ‘loss of control to a superior being? Ineffitability shows that some experiences are so impactful that one cannot even put into words what they have seen, just like God is beyond human understanding, religious experiences can be too remarkable to even put into words. Noetic quality shows the insight into an unobtainable truth, gaining a greater knowledge and understanding of God. Transciency stresses the short but impactful experience which stands out from everyday life. All of these types of religious experience are reasons for conversion, highlighting the great significance of religious experience for the belief in God.
Conversion is the change of religious belief, adapting a new religious lifestyle. For example, in Christianity, Saul changes to Paul and when God spoke to Moses telling him to ‘let my people go.’
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