Moreover, even those who have not underwent a religious experience themselves, given the fact that so many people throughout history went through such experiences, should take them seriously and consider the possibility that they really exist.
Many scholars have examined the religious experience and the differences between them and transient hallucinations (among them William James in his book The Religious Experience of the Issue and Yehuda Gelman in his book Experience of GOD and the Rationality of Theistic Beliefs), and denying such a wide range of experience and testimonies of so many people solely on the basis of prejudice is irrational.
Some argue that religious experiences are worthless because they mostly reflect the religious views of those who experience them, and since not all religions may be true, it is clear that this is a subjective experience that does not teach an objective reality. But there are a number of failures in this argument.
First, there are many similarities between religious experiences, whereas the differences can be attributed to the interpretation (similar to people who look at a work of art and interpret it in different ways – is that why it is said to exist?).
Second, it is quite possible that in all religions there is truth; they all try to express the transcendent beyond words, and when a person experiences a religious experience, the same reality appears to his eyes through symbols and images familiar to him.
Third, there are people who have had a religious experience that does not match the background in which they grew up. In any case, in the eyes of those who have personally experienced the divine presence, those who deny it are similar to people who have no musical sense who claim that music is nothing but “noise.” It is impossible to convince them, but it is so clear that they are wrong.
