This chapter covers the argument for God's existence from religious experience. The key differences between 'religious' and 'ordinary' experiences are examined, as are the three main types of religious experience. The question of the authenticity of a religious experience is then discussed, examining some of the difficulties of deciding whether a religious experience is genuine. Finally Swinburne's principle of credulity and principle of testimony are discussed.
The reliwou Key word Monotheism: the belief that there is only one God.
xperience argument This argument has featured in Western philosophy where the concept of God has been classical monotheism.
a) Inductive argument The design argument looks at features of the universe and infers that the best way to account for them is an appeal to the existence of a God. One form of the religious experience argument works in a similar way. It considers subjective accounts of experiences that have a particular characteristic, and then, like the design argument, infers that they can only be adequately explained in terms of divine agency — God. The logical form can be expressed in various ways using premises and a conclusion, for example: If an entity is experienced then it must exist. People claim they experience God. Therefore God probably exists. This form of argument is an inductive argument. Remember that in an inductive argument the conclusion may follow from the premises but it does not necessarily follow. Hence this argument can never be considered a proof but may be persuasive.