American scientist: Science cannot determine external reality of religious experience

RELIGIONS NEWS AGENCY (REDNA) – The American author on science and religion, Dr Joshua M. Moritz, rehearses arguments for explaining religious experience, in an article published by the John Templeton Foundation.

He asks: “Are Spiritual Experiences Just in Your Head?” and his answer is that “the science appears neutral with regard to whether or not religious (or non-religious) knowers are warranted in their beliefs”.

The article reviews theories that moments of transcendence can be engendered by temporal lobe seizures and even electrical stimulation; that religious experience is rooted in the biology of the brain but that need not negate a corresponding external reality; and that cognitive intuition has a place in religious experience and in all experience of reality.