Empiricism and Religion

Two weaknesses of Empiricism, as a recording of the given, are a blindness to given prejudice, and to the possibility of an alternative.  For example, James proposes that the proper relation of Philosophy to Religion is not to supply the latter with rational resources by which a theology can be reinforced, but to represent and evaluate religions on the basis of their empirical features.  Now, according to his own empirical survey, one such common feature is a deficiency-deliverance pattern, in terms of which a religion can be evaluated, i. e. with respect to the verifiability of its claims of efficacy in that respect.  Thus, as the descriptive phase of his methodology, the gleaning of that pattern is beyond reproach, so that, e. g., the overwhelming of a content person by artistic sublimity cannot be recognized as a 'religious' experience by James.  In other words, Empiricism's can abet religious dogma just as much as Rationalism's systematization of it, by its propagation of prejudice.