Responses To Scienece Flashcards
(4 cards)
How would religious believers respond to arguments from Freud about religious experiences?
-Religious believers challenge his view by pointing out that Freud’s explanation is just a hypothesis that cannot be tested, so it remains a hypothesis
-Just because an experience brings comfort does not make it false. Many real things, such as love and forgiveness, are also emotionally reassuring so the fact that religious experience satisfies deep human needs could instead suggest that it connects with something meaningful
- The Bible (Corinthians) supports this interpretation stating, “God works in mysterious ways, but His love never fails”»emotional impact and divine truth are not mutually exclusive. Rather than disproving God, Freud’s view may simply describe the emotional depth through which God communicates
How would religious believers respond to arguments about neuroscience and the God helmet?
-Religious believers respond by affirming that scientific findings may explain how religious experiences occur, but not why
-Since all human experience is processed through the brain, it makes sense that religious ones are too
-Believers accept that the mind can both initiate spiritual encounters and receive them through divine prompting
-William James supported this approach, arguing that religious experience involves a “sense of reality” and “a feeling of objective presence” that goes beyond normal sensation»His work implies that the brain does not invent the experience but becomes aware of something greater
-The consistency of brain patterns during spiritual events could support their authenticity, rather than undermine them, by showing that human beings are neurologically equipped to connect with the divine.
How would religious believers respond to challenges posed by drugs to religious experiences ?
-Religious believers maintain that the origin of an experience does not determine its spiritual value
-The mind is capable of reaching a state where it can encounter God, regardless of how that state is triggered
-William James supported this view, writing, “The origin of the experience in no wise determines its value,” meaning that what matters is the effect it has on the individual, not the method by which it begins
-A drug may act as a catalyst, but the value of the experience lies in the moral and emotional change that follows
How would religious believers respond to arguments about TLE?
-Religious believers accept that all experiences, including religious ones, must be processed through the brain, and that this does not invalidate their authenticity
-If the mind is the means by which we engage with the world, then it can also be the means by which we engage with God
-Walter Stace argued that mystical experience is unified and consistent across cultures, describing it as a direct awareness of “pure consciousness” and “unity with the divine”
-His view supports the idea that even if a religious experience arises during a seizure, it may still be real
-The presence of neurological activity does not disprove God’s involvement, it simply highlights the mind’s role in receiving or expressing spiritual encounters
