ABSTRACT
Many philosophers have talked about arguments from religious experience. The idea is that religious experience provides premises for an explicit argument that God exists. The Principle of Credulity is an interesting starting point for thinking about knowledge and experience. Dr. Michael Persinger of Laurentian University has invented a gadget that he claims can make many people have religious experiences. The experiences seem to be perfectly well accounted for without supposing that they are veridical. Even if the God Helmet were simply a reliable way of creating an illusion, that wouldn't show that experiences of God's presence outside the lab are nonveridical. Start with cases like sensing God's handiwork in the majesty of the heavens. The best explanation for spontaneous religious experiences could be that they're caused by God. Religious instrumentalism can admit that changing practices or giving up the one people have mastered is difficult.
