Authentic religious experience or insanity?

This study examined how mental health professionals make judgments about the religious authenticity and mental health of behaviors motivated by religious ideation. Participants were presented with written vignettes of religiously motivated behavior. The context of religious behavior varied on 6 dimensions and also on 3 levels of conventionality. The results indicated that the determining factor in the ratings was not dimensions of religious experience, but the degree that the experience deviated from conventional religious beliefs and practices. The more unconventional the behavior, the less religiously authentic and mentally healthy it was deemed to be.