Issues Relating to Religious Experiences - People

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Corporate Religious Experiences vs Individual Experiences

This section looks at whether corporate religious experiences are more reliable or valid than individual experiences, and vice versa.

Corporate religious experiences

Corporate experiences are those undergone by a group of people.
They might take the form of miraculous experiences (like the perception of the sun ‘dancing’ by a large group of people in Fatima, Portugal in 1917).
Or, at the other end of the scale, they might take the form of group experiences of peacefulness and calm during periods of silence - for example, silence during Quaker meetings.

'Charismatic' experiences

There are also ‘charismatic’ experiences - such as the Toronto Blessing, a group experience in Toronto Airport chapel in 1994 in which various phenomena were reported among the congregation.
- These included laughter, falling over, crying, shaking uncontrollably, roaring, a feeling of intoxicating joy, and experiences of being uncoordinated.

Crowd/mob psychology

On the face of it, group experiences, like the Toronto Blessing, don't seem veridical, given that we now have sophisticated accounts of group behaviour which explain peculiarities without religion.
The most common explanation in these terms is known as crowd or mob psychology. People act differently in groups, become more suggestible and open to unusual patterns of behaviour.

Teresa of Avila vs Howard

In these ‘charismatic’ gatherings, people may be present who are actively seeking such experiences.
Teresa of Avila says that humility is a pre-requisite for any religious experience - the soul must not even think itself worthy of such blessings. Her words are completely contrasted to those of the preacher behind the Toronto Blessings, Rodney Howard Browne, who said: “God, if you don’t come down here and touch me, I’m going to come up there and touch you!”

Corporate are unreliable

So it would seem that corporate religious experiences are often so affected by group psychology that they are unreliable.
Individual experiences might seem more reliable then. There are many testimonies of individual religious experiences across times and cultures which, as James has argued, can be analysed in terms of a ‘common core’.
- This seems to point to some reality transcendent of cultures.

Mackie on mystical experiences

We do not have to watch out for suggestibility and group dynamics with individual experience.
But individuals can still be mistaken. The scholar J L Mackie said of William James’ arguments: “Since, as he rightly says, no authority emanates from mystical experiences - because they can be so easily explained in purely natural, psychological, terms - for anyone who stands outside them to accept their revelations, they cannot be authoritative in an objective sense even for those who have them.”

Individual Religious Experiences - More Reliable

It would seem that corporate religious experiences are often so affected by group psychology that they are unreliable.

Corporate are unreliable

Individual experiences might seem more reliable then. There are many testimonies of individual religious experiences across times and cultures which, as James has argued, can be analysed in terms of a ‘common core’.
- This seems to point to some reality transcendent of cultures.
We do not have to watch out for suggestibility and group dynamics with individual experience.

Mackie on mystical experiences

But individuals can still be mistaken.
The scholar J L Mackie said of William James’ arguments: “Since, as he rightly says, no authority emanates from mystical experiences - because they can be so easily explained in purely natural, psychological, terms - for anyone who stands outside them to accept their revelations, they cannot be authoritative in an objective sense even for those who have them.”

The ‘Miracle of the Sun’

The largest public or ‘corporate’ religious experience of the 20th century was ‘miracle of the sun’, which happened around midday on the 13th October 1917 in the Cova da Iria near Fatima, Portugal.

Virgin Mary's announcement

Most accounts say about 70,000 people gathered in the field.
On the 13th day of every month for five months prior to this, the Virgin Mary had appeared to three shepherd children and announced that a miracle would take place there, on that day.
So news spread far and wide, and many people travelled for miles to see it. There were many sceptics and non-believers as well as religious people in the crowd. There were also many news reporters.

Spinning sun

It had been raining for 24 hours and everyone was soaked to the skin.
Shortly before midday, the rain stopped and the sun came out. The great majority of people in the crowd then allegedly saw the sun spinning round and sending out rays of light, lighting up peoples faces in all different colours. Then, the sun appeared to dislodge from its place and hurtle towards the earth.
People were terrified and thought it was the end of the world.

National reporting of the event

The sun returned and the event ended. It had lasted about 12 minutes.
People found that the muddy earth and their coats were completely dry.
The national newspapers, even secularist ones such as ‘O Seculo’, reported the event as real. Non-believers were unable to explain it and some people as far as twenty miles away also reported seeing it.

Validity of the event

It seems impossible to explain away this event in terms of mass psychology as many who had come sceptically saw the event, as well as those who were not there seeing it.
There's also the rain-sodden, muddy ground drying up completely.

Catholic Church examination

The Catholic Church thoroughly examined the miracle, as it does with every reported case of a miracle, and declared it ‘worthy of belief’.
Clearly, this is more persuasive than an individual experience because so many people - regardless of beliefs - saw the same things.