Religious experience is convincing evidence for God. Discuss (40)

In the introduction it is important to show which side of the debate you support, stating clearly which way you will be arguing will give your essay more clarity and structure and also help the examiner to follow your thought process more easily. Define what a religious experience is, a good scholar to use for this is William James who sets out the 4 qualities that a religious experience should have. Doing this helps give some foundation to what you are arguing and also allows you to refer back to your initial definition when critiquing and evaluating later arguments.If arguing For this statement, make sure to start with the strongest argument for. This may be using case studies of Corporate religious experiences, like the Toronto Blessings in Canada, as proof that it really is an act of God. Evaluate this point by using psychology studies done on conformation in large groups, a good example of this is the Asch Experiment. It is then good to debunk your evaluation by summarising why you original point is still strong, and in this case one can point out how if 1/4 of those within the religious experience dint conform, it would have been highly obvious. Then present an argument against, this may be one referring to physical characteristics in the brain that cause us to act in the way of a religious experience, such as Dick Swaab's theory about frontal lobe epilepsy. Evaluate this view, perhaps with reference to how this theory could be disproved easily if one instance of non-epilepsy were to be found. Conclude the essay by restating your point and argue why it is strongest with reference to the evidence presented.