Abstract

Contends that parapsychological phenomena (PPH) provide the essential grounds for believing in and validating religious experience (RE), and in so doing one finds in parapsychology the necessary interface between science and religion. It is likely that PPH and REs may be accessing consciousness as such, independent of sensory processes. The interface between parapsychology and religion would constitute the parapsychology of religion which can (1) give descriptive accounts of RE that are uniformly applicable to all religions; (2) construct empirical tests for validating spastic forms of RE; (3) discover significant correlations between religious beliefs and practices on the one hand and psychic abilities on the other; (4) formulate instructions and recommend procedures for gaining RE; and (5) provide training in counseling and therapeutic skills to clergy to enable them to deal responsibly with those having REs and pseudo-REs.