Atheists: have you ever had a religious experience and what did you make of it?

[KevinM1]

I had an experience, but I was in a situation tailor-made to elicit an emotional response. During my teenage years when I sometimes felt like something was wrong with me because I couldn't believe like the people around me, I went to a Christian concert with the youth group of the church I attended. At the end of the concert, I felt something like jubilation and excitement during the last segment. Afterwards, I felt strangely hollow, similar to how I always felt regarding religion and the presence of a supposed god, and quite confused about my out-of-character behavior. In reality, I had been subject to an experience designed to provoke a response. Everything had been orchestrated to create an emotionally charged environment: the lighting, the choice of music during that last segment, the words spoken, and everything else. Of course, a large crowd contributed to this feeling; the mob mentality definitely played an important role.

tl;dr:

I had an experience, but it was bullshit.

Yeah, that's how a lot of churches operate. They understand basic psychology and physiology, and create environments designed to make people more susceptible to suggestion.

It's why megachurches pack in so many people, as an example.