Criticisms of Religious Experience

Test yourself

Criticisms of Religious Experience

Not everyone accepts that experiences like visions and miracles are really religious experiences.

Lying

Sometimes criticism is directed at the person who says they had the religious experience.
- Quite often, for example, people simply do not believe the people who had the experience.
- Critics say that they only have the person’s word that the experience happened, so they could easily have made it up.
That would makes it poor proof of the existence of God as you just have to accept someone’s word for it.

Hallucinations

Another criticism of religious experiences is that it could be a hallucination.
- This could have been the result of physical illness or drugs, or even extreme heat or tiredness.
Whatever the cause, the religious experience is not real - they have imagined it.
- There is a condition called temporal lobe epilepsy, for example. This can cause people to see unusual lights and sounds that are difficult to describe.

Mental illness

Another possible criticism is that the person is mentally ill.
- This is the case with illnesses such as schizophrenia.
- These mental illnesses can cause people to hear voices.
- Sometimes they think these voices come from God or from the devil.

Gullibility

Some critics of religious experiences have suggested that they happen to people who are poorly educated.
- Or, they are people who have had a very religious upbringing.
- The argument is that this can make them more likely to interpret normal experiences in a religious way.

Limits of scientific knowledge

This is often a response to someone’s claim to have seen a miracle, such as miraculous healing.
- If a person becomes better, and science cannot explain this, then this is because of the limits of our scientific knowledge.
- Science is constantly evolving, and one day will be able to provide an explanation for the miracle.

Summary of the criticisms

In brief, these criticisms say that a person who claims to have had a religious experience could be lying.
- Or, they are too eager to describe an experience as religious.
They also could be having a hallucination that medical science can explain.
- Or what they have experienced could be something that science will be able to explain one day.
People who make these criticisms say that these are more likely explanations than believing they have come from God.

1Year 7

1.1Origins of Abrahamic Faith

1.2Judaism

1.3Christianity

1.3.1The Nativity

1.3.2Christian Beliefs about the Baby Jesus

1.3.3Jesus' Ministry

1.3.4The Sermon on the Mount

1.3.5The Crucifixion

1.3.6The Last Supper

1.3.7The Resurrection

1.3.8Christian Beliefs about the Resurrection

1.3.9The Council of Nicaea

1.3.10The Nicene Creed

1.3.11Saint Augustine

1.3.12Protestantism

1.3.13The Reformation

1.3.14Christianity Today

1.3.15Evangelical Churches

1.3.16The Future of Christianity

1.4Buddhism

1.4.1Religion in India

1.4.2The Caste System

1.4.3Meditation

1.4.4Caste & Religion

1.4.5Puja

1.4.6Karma & the Cycle of Rebirth

1.4.7The Four Noble Truths

1.4.8The Three Marks of Existence

1.4.9The Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path to Enlightenment

1.4.10How do Buddhists Live?

1.4.11The Four Sights

1.4.12The Buddha

1.4.13The Middle Way & Enlightenment

2Year 8

2.1Islam

2.1.1Pre-Islamic Arabia

2.1.2The Prophet Muhammad & The Qur'an

2.1.3The Hijrah & The Conquest of Mecca

2.1.4The Prophet Muhammad: The Final Sermon

2.1.5The Sunni/Shia Split

2.1.6Islamic Caliphates

2.1.7The Five Pillars of Islam

2.1.8Origins of Hajj

2.1.9Hajj Rituals

2.1.10Jihad

2.1.11Islam Today

2.2Hinduism

2.2.1The Prehistoric Roots of Hinduism

2.2.2Key Ideas in Hinduism

2.2.3The Caste System

2.2.4The Vedic Period

2.2.5The Upanishads

2.2.6Alexander the Great & The Mauryan Empire

2.2.7Revelation & The Sharing of Knowledge

2.2.8Understanding the Self

2.2.9Karma, Yoga & the Self

2.2.10The Divine Presence

2.2.11Hindu Statues and Icons

2.2.12British Colonialism & Gandhi

2.3Atheism

2.3.1Where Did Atheism Come From?

2.3.2The Impact of Scientific Developments

2.3.3Plato's Cave

2.3.4Challenging the Bible

2.3.5The Enlightenment

2.3.6Evolution

2.3.7Evolution & Religion

2.3.8Morality & God

2.3.9Morality Without God

2.3.10Frederick Nietzsche - How to Live Without Religion

2.3.11Militant Atheism

2.3.12Humanism

2.3.13The Future of Atheism

2.4Philosophy of Religion

2.4.1Who is God?

2.4.2Theists, Atheists & Agnostics

2.4.3Faith & Empiricism

2.4.4The Design Argument

2.4.5Is The Design Argument Convincing?

2.4.6The Cosmological Argument

2.4.7Criticisms of The Cosmological Argument

2.4.8The Problem of Evil

2.4.9Free Will Theodicy

2.4.10Soul-Making Theodicy

2.4.11Religious Experience

2.4.12Types of Religious Experience

2.4.13Criticisms of Religious Experience

3Year 9

3.1Life & Death

3.1.1What is the Right Thing To Do?

3.1.2Thomas Aquinas - Natural Law

3.1.3Building a Moral Code

3.1.4Criticisms of Natural Law

3.1.5Joseph Fletcher - Situation Ethics

3.1.6Understanding Situation Ethics

3.1.7Criticisms of Situation Ethics

3.1.8Sanctity of Life

3.1.9Quality of Life

3.1.10Abortion

3.1.11Moral Questions About Abortion

3.1.12Euthanasia

3.1.13Moral Questions About Euthanasia

3.1.14Capital Punishment

3.1.15Arguments Against Captial Punishment

3.1.16Animal Rights

3.1.17Alternative Views on Animal Rights

3.2Extremism

3.2.1What Does Extremism Mean?

3.2.2Extremism Explained

3.2.3Why do People Become Extremists?

3.2.4What are Conspiracy Theories?

3.2.5Why do People Believe Conspiracy Theories?

3.2.6What is Anti-Semitism?

3.2.7Anti-Semitic Stereotyping

3.2.8The Holocaust

3.2.9After the Holocaust

3.2.10Religious Fundamentalism

3.2.11The Problem of Fundamentalism

3.2.12Nationalism

3.2.13Nationalism & Extremism

3.2.14What is a Terrorist?

3.2.15Political & Religious Terrorism

3.2.16Free Speech

3.2.17Hate Speech

3.2.18How do we Fight Extremism?

3.3Equality

3.3.1Introduction to Equality

3.3.2Is the UK an Equal Society?

3.3.3Religion and Equality

3.3.4Interpreting the Scripture

3.3.5Racism and Scripture

3.3.6Scripture Against Racism

3.3.7The Fight for Racial Equality

3.3.8Gender Equality and Scripture

3.3.9Gender Equality; Women in Worship

3.3.10LGBTQ+ Matters

3.3.11The Fight for LGBTQ+ Equality

3.3.12Disability Matters

3.3.13The Fight for Disability Equality

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