CORPORATE RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE

CORPORATE RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE

• An experience that happens simultaneously to a number of people
• Corporate exp. takes place when people gather for worship , they have a group experience
• They listen together , sing , pray etc
• However not everyone will respond in the same way
• Corporate exp = public experience
• The experience might be perceived and understood by each participant individually
• However they have similar behaviours and experience

EXAMPLE : TORONTO BLESSING 1994

• Toronto blessing occurred at Toronto Airport Vineyard Church 1994
• People had a corporate experience
• They started to act really weird
• Many said that the HOLY SPIRIT told them to act in such way
• People were laughing , rolling on floor , acting like animals ,making noises , uncontrollably weeping
• People felt the presence of a being
• Supporters of Toronto blessing saw this as a sign of ' NEW MOVE ' of God
• WEAKNESS OF TORONTO BLESSING
• Many said this was caused due to Mass Hysteria - people felt the need of acting in such way to fit in
• For example HANK HANEGRATT believes that such phenomena such as Toronto blessing are the result of mass hysteria
• Why would a god allow you to act in such way
• STRENGTH
• It happened to so many people which makes it more believable
• It changed peoples lives which shows the effects as significant therefore believable

EXAMPLE : FATIMA PORTUGAL

• Virgin Mary appeared to 3 children + told them messages
• Then the childrentold there parents which spread around the local area
• This caused 70,000 people to gather when the children visited the same place they saw Virgin Mary
• However Virgin Mary only appeared to the 3 children
• But on the same day the public saw the 'sun dancing'
• However RICHARD DAWKINS argues that if the sun spun like that we would not exist , it would destroy everything
• Another weakness is that it only happened in that area the other part of Portugal everything was normal which shows that it may of been a false view

EXAMPLE : MEDJUGARJE

• Virgin Mary appeared to several teenage + gave messages of conversion , faith and prayer

STRENGTHS OF CORPORATE EXPERIENCES

• More believable that there is a God because so much ppl experience it
• More verifiable as there is more eye witnesses
• The effects of corporate can be life changing which shows that it may be true

WEAKNESS OF CORPORATE EXPERIENCE

• Some ppl just want to feel part of the group
• Christian psychologists John White refers to corporate experiences as 'LEARNED PATTERNS OF BEHAVIOR'

GENERAL VIEWS - RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE

• FREUD - Argued that Religious experiences are just 'ILLUSIONS' + just creations of the brain + false examples of our desires + Freud believes religious exp. could be hallucinations caused by unconscious which all humans have
• RICHARD DAWKINS - Wrote a book against religious experiences called 'THE GOD OF DELUSIONS' arguing that religious experiences just outcomes of alternative explanations
• AYER argued that religious experiences all together are FALLACIOUS + He also argued that humans are mistaken + unreliable to believe in them so therefore there is no proof for existence of GOD
• FLEW - Used the idea of having a blik to show that religious believers will not allow anything to count against their religion therefore they will always defend if they had a religious experience
• Starbucks argued that religious experiences may just be the normal process / development of adolescences finding its sense of identity
• Religious experience = subjective + not testable by empirical means
• KANT - Rejects the possibility of rebellious exp. as we do not have the sense to experience God , as go belongs in the NOUMENAL REALM.God is not an object within time + space

GENERAL VIEWS - RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE

• MARX- Described religion as the 'OPIUM OF THE MASSES' argued that religion should be overthrown + religious exp = product of culture
• SWINBURNE - CUMULATIVE ARGUMENT : 1.So many people have had religious experiences in past that they simply cannot be making up.God must be the cause of it . 2. Cumulative argument shows that its probable that god exists , therefore the claim that religious experience are true and accurate are more likely to be true then false
• RESPONSE TO CUMULATIVE ARGUMENT : 1.Universal consent does not prove anything , many ppl can be mistaken or deceived e.g. believing the world was flat
• 2.Flew rejects this argument using his '10 leaky buckets analogy' to show that 10 deeply flawed arguments do not make 1 good one
• PHYSIOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE : Over-excitement in the Limbic system leads to ppl to be more likely to have religious experience due to HYPER - RELIGIOSITY
• CRITICISM OF PHYSIOLOGICAL EXPLANATION = Not everyone who claims to have a religious experience has a abnormal brain system