The Successfulness of Religious Experience

The Extent to which Religious Experiences impact upon religious beliefs and practice.

It can be said that you cannot separate or make a difference between religious belief and practices and religious experiences.

Prayer is understood to be an unmistakeable religious experience. It is the act of listening to the voice of God, so not just simply one-way. William James described prayer as 'the very soul and essence of religion'. There may also be meditation, such as in Buddhism to obtain a religious experience, such as nirvana, unity with the divine or a state of tranquility.

Just as prayer or meditation is important, a rite of passage or participation in one can also be seen as a religious experience that can impact upon religious beliefs and practice. The Eucharist, or Holy Communion especially in Roman Catholicism is particularly important, due to the belief in transubstantiation which it is believed that the bread and wine literally become the body and blood of Jesus. Therefore, it can be said that religious experiences have significant impact on religious beliefs and practice.

However, participation in a religious experience multiple times can mean that the believer does it mechanically. For example, the recitation of the Shema in Judaism, or the creed in Christianity. This is recited at most Catholic and Anglican services and contains the most important beliefs within the faith. It allows believers to reaffirm their faith as one. However, if the intent is not there, then it may not be a religious experience.

Religious experiences also impact religious beliefs and practice because it is often down to them that different faiths emerge. For example the pilgrimage to Mecca for Muslims. This helps to reaffirm believers and remind them of why and what they believe. It helps to unite the community and give witness to those outside the faith.

On the other hand, it can be said that in the 21st century, religious experiences are no longer considered to be valuable and have an impact. science has now provided many alternative explanations that attempt to do away with religious experience

Some may say that religious experiences are not essential for belief and practice, however many are incredibly important in preserving the faith and serve as a means of reaffirming belief.

Whether religious communities are totally dependent on religious experiences

Many religious faiths have beliefs that derive fro religious experiences. For example Abraham's covenant experience. Christianity is based in the resurrection of Jesus. All are clear examples of religious experiences' of the founders that have seen the emergence of religious communities.

Particularly, events without the religious faith are remembered through festivals such as Pesach. Without these religious experience, they would not be able to come together as religious communities and reaffirm their beliefs.

However in the 21st century religious experiences are being challenged, particularly through science.

However in many charismatic churches, they see the Holy Spirit as active and are totally dependant on religious experiences. It can also be said that if religious experiences are not true anymore due to science, then religious communities would not be meeting anymore. However as this is the case still, it can be said that religious communities are still just as dependent on religious experiences as they were.

On the other hand, it can be said that people can have religious experiences without belonging to a particular faith community religious experiences can then be just an important for the individual as it is the community.

It can be said that due to scientific research into the origins of religious experience, it has cast doubts on the whole nature of them. On the other hand, there are many philosophers and scientists who defend the value of them.