According to Christopher Bader, Joe Baker and Frederick Carson Mencken in Paranormal America: Ghost encounters, UFO sightings, Bigfoot hunts, and other curiosities in religion and culture (2011) research shows that “more than 2/3 of Americans have paranormal beliefs with this being manifested in their penchant for movies with paranormal themes. This statistic is not alarming since evidently the paranormal and the supernatural have been a part of human culture since the beginning of time. In fact, in most religions paranormal experiences are either commonplace, or show up without alarm to the persons practicing that particular religion. While persons without religion, Jews and dedicated Christians are less likely than others to believe in paranormal activities, a majority of other persons, seeking a supernatural connection or a spiritual fulfillment are questioning, sometimes at large cost, the actuality of this type of phenomena. As trivial as it may seem, little things like astrology, fortune cookies, tarot card readings etc. are practiced by Christians, and are indicative of the fact that there is a merging of beliefs. And, persons who believe in any religion to begin with, may be more likely to have paranormal beliefs; however, Christians who practiced reading their Bibles on a daily basis, and belief it to be the truth, as well as those persons who have no religions are less likely to believe in the paranormal.
In his quest to pinpoint how religion operates in the various different human societies, religious scholar and sociologist, Robert Bellah, resolves that religious structures, rather than government enables such a vast number of human beings to live together in civility, since religions usually employ the force of a “being” that is larger than life. Moreover, Bellah identifies the oral tradition of story-telling, tribal dance and communal ceremonies as crucial in building strong human bonds, unions and communities. Bellah’s definition of religion is “that which gives meaning and order, ritual that enacts order, both of which provide community” (Bellah, Unit 4). Bellah manages these communities by organizing them into five major religious types, within a chronological structure. Among the categories of religions that he identifies, and describes as being within our human cultural framework, are Tribal Culture and Religion, the beginning of religion, Early Modern Religion, which began about 1500 CE, and Late Modern Religion, which began in the 1960’s and continues through today.
The first human bond manifested itself in the early tribes of our ancestors, built upon the rituals, dance, stories and ceremonies that was their religion. While the common thread in these early tribes was blood, an essential tool for survival that was also rooted and grounded in each member was their beliefs, and each member was required to participate in the rituals, and to practice the animistic religion in which the various gods of the elements: weather, sun, seasons, planets etc. rule.
One such tribal religions is Shamanism which is steeped in the paranormal, since the Shaman, has extra-sensory powers and can heal using magic, and since many of its practitioners have out-of-body experiences. In the United States certain American Indian communities have Sharmans, persons who are transported to various realms while in altered states to either control spirits or to be controlled by them in an attempt to aid persons in need. Some Sharman are considered as medicine men as they perform healing like a clergy would in a church calling on the name of the Lord. But their popularity lies in their ability to effect happiness and overall healing.
Like the tribal religions, the Early Modern Religions also rely on paranormal experiences for optimal realization. This type of religion consists of the monotheistic religions that began in the Western world from about 1500 CE, with Christianity being the chief one, although in its various forms: Catholicism, Protestantism including Pentecostalism, and such the like. A major contrast between Catholics and Protestants was that the Protestants believed that the Catholic Church indulged in questionable and superstitious practices, because they prayed to saints and used various emblems in their religious rituals. This was a budding time for the relatively new Protestant Church, and the historical setting of the time included an inquisitiveness for education, and a loyalty to science and economics which seemed contrary to spirituality needed for religion. So during this period philosophers recognized accounts of miracles as stories rather than divine intervention. Psychology was used during this period of religion to explain away phenomena like out-of-body experiences, and near-death-experiences, and pastors and other ministerial staff incorporated Psychology into the routine counseling sessions. Beyond the major modern Christian religions is Spiritualism, which even during this time of heightened quest for science and education, still hinged upon the contact of the living with the dead or the disincarnate through the use of mediums. This practiced is explained away during the period as a psychological method of helping grieving persons to come to closure about the passing of a loved one.
With the massive political and social change of the 1960’s came redesigned human beings, more conscious about civil rights, more dedicated to peace, more concerned about technology. A change along the religious front included religious individualism which centered on the question of religion’s roles in aiding a person in the life question of “Why am I here?” Additionally, people were combining religions giving rise to new ideas and new problems. Focus on the paranormal seem to center on the “glimpsing” of unidentified flying objects (UFO). A similarity between spiritualism and the paranormal is that the persons viewing the UFO act like the mediums in spiritualism.
In Pentecostal Christianity the notion of the Holy Ghost in Western religion is easy to accept having the precursor of tribal spirits from the ancient world. Additionally the Bible sets the tone for paranormal belief with its several references to paranormal activity. An Old Testament prophet can be compared with a Sharman, since they can foretell things and have wisdom and healing abilities. A number of Biblical characters: Saul, at his visit to the medium, Endor, Daniel with his vision of the end time; and Paul and his Damascus road experience. Several Christians have also testified of having near death experiences, and being prayed back to life.
In a Catholic resolution persons who die with a question mark hanging over their head are sent to purgatory so that they can purge before moving on. A Near death experience can operate in the same way as a wake-up call for persons who have not been doing what they should. In this manner a NDE is intertwined with religion to help a person toward a desired end.
In his article, “The Roles of Religion, Spirituality and Genetics in Paranormal Beliefs”, James E. Kennedy cites research and articles by Erich Goode (2000) and Glenn Sparks (2001) which state that “the paradigm upon which the belief in both religion and the non-scientific paranormal occurrences are built is similar, and an uncertainty in the relationship between traditional religion and paranormal beliefs, respectively” (2004). Kennedy goes on to highlight a point of agreement between Goode and Sparks: that the dimensions of religious and paranormal belief are multi-tiered, specifying a difference between religion and spiritually, which may be at work in the link between religion and the paranormal. The question is focused primarily on belief. Are miracles completed by man without divine intervention, or is there an outside force that changes a situation from one of the marvels of science, or the skillfulness of man, to one enacted by a supernatural force?
In considering the role that the paranormal plays we must consider how far removed religion is from the paranormal itself. If we consider the types of religions described by Bellah as progressive rather than categorical, we can see the relationship between traditional religion and the paranormal. After all, traditional religions most often times than not are fueled by the existence of a being that is larger than life, someone that is unexplainable, as is a UFO or an out-of-body experience. Although science has offered explanations for these, “the man with the experience” is usually the one hanging on, insisting that the occurrence cannot be explained away.
References
Bader, C. D., Baker, J., & Mencken, F. C. (2010). Paranormal America: Ghost encounters, UFO
sightings, Bigfoot hunts, and other curiosities in religion and culture. New York: New York University Press.
Kennedy, James E. (2004). “The roles of religion, spirituality, and genetics in paranormal
beliefs”. Skeptical Inquirer, 28 (2), March/April, 39-42.
