Donovan: Implications, Part b

Quick Part B: Overall Themes

Donovan

Implications for Religion 

• If our intuitions are correct, then religious experiences contribute to religion -> bible, God of the old testament was also guilty of personal ‘mediated immediacy’
• Buber or Owen, fall prey to the concept of anthropomorphism?
• men must be religious because of the large numbers of religious worshippers
• great thinkers and advocates have religious experiences, -> William Wilberforce
• strengthens the argument for God, 
• religious feelings may be different (C. S. Lewis)
• cannot dispute feelings (Hardy Research Centre & James (4 fruits))
• but psychological phenomena, such as for NDEs -> Raymond Moody, dreams, hallucinations
• Freud’s wish fulfilment 
• scriptures talk of religious experiences (mystics, Theresa of Avila)

Implications for Human Experience

• Validates the idea of God, and therefore the afterlife, 
• Paul Tillich: ‘ultimate concern’
• therefore would we be more inclined to be more moral in order to ascend to the spiritual realm?
• would we be more inclined to believe the religious believer (Swinburne’s two principles)

Implications for Morality

• The delusion would be wiped away, Ayer no verification (Ayer aka Freddy, would eventually doubt his own word, after having an NDE, or something, his heart managed to stop beating for four minutes) -> Wittgenstein’s language games
• delusion would be wiped away -> Dawkins and R. A. Sharpe, 
• William James -> four fruits