Reasonable Doubts Podcast

For many religious believers the most compelling evidence for theism is their own personal experience of God's presence. Christians in the rapidly growing charismatic "renewalist" movement do not just talk to God. They claim to actually hear God talking back. Are these powerful religious experiences evidence that God really exists or are they the result of mental illness? Anthropologist Tanya Luhrmann, author of When God Talks Back, offers another explanation: such experiences arise naturally when spiritual communities learn to train and enhance their natural capacity for imagination. She joins us on the show to talk about what she observed while studying members of the renewalist Vineyard Church. Also in this episode: just how much government revenue is lost due to religious tax exemptions and direct subsides to churches? The answer will shock you. Plus, a counter-apologetics on Richard Swinburne's argument from religious experience and a new pollyatheism.