‘Religious experiences are all illusions.’ Discuss. Most arguments for the existence of God are ‘a posteriori’‚ seeking to move from experiences within the world to the existence of God rather than relying on the definition of God to prove his existence. Religious experience is an interaction with God or a feeling of connection with a higher power. It is interesting to note that William James never spoke of ‘God’ but of the ‘spiritual’‚ ‘unseen order’ or ‘higher’ aspects of the world. Does a person
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from religious experience are never convincing.’ (35 marks) Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud present challenges to religious experiences. Marx’s challenges to religious experience arguments are sociological; he suggested that the origins of religious experience are to be found in society. He states religion is about mythological beliefs and an unreal god that distracted people from the real world‚ religion is ‘the opium of the people’‚ religious experiences create alienation and a religious experience
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Religious Experience Religious experience is seen as a non-empirical occurrence which means it does not depend or can be verified through observation or examination. Majority of people believe it’s supernatural. It is also seen as an experience to make a person aware. Certain religious people believe who have had the experience has drawn them into a deeper knowledge/ awareness of god. Most importantly it is seen as the experience itself is not a substitute for the divine but a vehicle that is
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The qualities of religious experience are of great debate today hand have been of great debate for several centuries. This is because of the inability for philosophers to “explain away” the cause or source of such experiences by the way of the epistemological methods available. Furthermore‚ in his essay “the Varieties of Religious Experience”‚ William James makes the claim that religious experiences can be explained away by the way of referring their cause to the subconscious aspects of the brain
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As I do not practice any religion‚ I thought that for the religious experience project‚ I would write about my observations as my sister rekindles her faith and practice in Roman Catholicism. My sister and I were both raised Catholic by our parents and both attended Sunday school where our grandmother was our teacher. However‚ after our parents divorced about 17 years ago‚ we both strayed away from our faith. I went on to keep an open mind and learn of other religions but never found my fit. My sister
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My Personal Religious Experience I’ve been attending church for as long as I can remember. The earliest time I remember going to church was when I was in pre-school‚ and I attended the same church until high school. Sundays were routine‚ we attended church‚ went out to eat after with other members of the church‚ and then went home to watch either football or baseball (sports being my second religion). Skipping church was never an option‚ nor did I really want to miss it. I had good friends at
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understanding of religious experience. In a study of 2‚500 Finns‚ one in three (37%) said they had received help from God (Church Research Centre‚ 2001). Whatever you call this kind of encounter‚ it would be very difficult to even begin to discuss it at all without a language code to do so. Through “The Varieties of Religious Experience”‚ William James gave scholars a framework through which to discourse on religious experience. For example‚ one of James’ four characteristics of a mystical experience is ineffability
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forefront of debate in the 20th Century movement known as Logical Positivism. Philosophers such as A.J. Ayer‚ writing in Language‚ Truth and Logic and members of the Vienna Circle‚ wanted to be able to break down language into its simplest components. All meaningful propositions were divided into two categories‚ analytic and synthetic. Analytical
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from Religious Experience The argument from religious experience is the argument that personal religious experiences can prove God’s existence to those that have them. One can only perceive that which exists‚ and so God must exist because there are those that have experienced him. While religious experiences themselves can only constitute direct evidence of God’s existence for those fortunate enough to have them‚ the fact that there are many people who testify to having had such experiences constitutes
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The Religious Conflict of A Private Experience In "A Private Experience" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichiea‚ a religious conflict is clearly indicated in the beginning. A Christian Igbo girl hides from a violent riot with a Muslim woman whose dignity and faith force her to encounter the realities and fears she is been pushing away. Many examples are used to display the differences between these two people‚ but the one that sticks out the most for me is the scarf and how it is represented in her story
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