Using James, Alston, and Fales, explain the issue with interpreting mystical or other religious experiences. Do such experiences have a special authority for the people who have them or do they need to be checked by other methods? Draw your own conclusion and argue for it.

Assignment Question

Instructions for Exam 2 Answer any 3 of the following 6 questions listed below Submit Exam 2 as a single MS Word Document. Clearly label the questions that you have answered. Answers should all be in clear, concise, logical, essay format You may use any books or Internet sources you wish as long as you work alone Use APA citation style when you refer to an author in your answer Answers are limited to a minimum of 300 words and a maximum of 500 words each Your Exam is due by the end of Module 6.

1. Using James, Alston, and Fales, explain the issue with interpreting mystical or other religious experiences. Do such experiences have a special authority for the people who have them or do they need to be checked by other methods? Draw your own conclusion and argue for it.

2. Using Hume, Mackie, and van Inwagen, explain the issue with interpreting miracles. Do claims about miracles pose a special problem for belief? Are miracles such unusual things that they would require overwhelming evidence to be taken seriously? Lay out the positions and the pros and cons of each.

3. Using the readings in Module 5, explain whether religious belief needs to be backed by reason or whether experience alone can justify them. For those who argue that some rationality is needed to justify religious belief, which position seems to hold the burden of proof

4. Using the readings in Module 6, which of the following positions is strongest: Religion and science are allies; religion and science are enemies; religion and science are completely unconnected? Give an argument for your choice and for why you reject the other positions.

5. Confucianism is an important belief system that has guided and shaped Asian culture for thousands of years. But is it a religion? Look up three definitions of religion in three different sources (dictionaries, encyclopedias) and make an argument for whether or not Confucianism is best understood as a religion or something else. Why do most books on religion include Confucianism?

6. Judaism and Islam both have their roots in religious experience and miracles—whether the burning bush, the ten commandments or the revelation of the Koran. As discussed in the articles in module 4, however, conflicting religious experiences leads us to the question of how we can determine which religious experience claims are true and which are not. When Muslims claim that Mohammed did receive a revelation and Jews claim that he did not, is there any evidence we can look for either way? Or not? Explain and defend and your answer.

Last Completed Projects