Comment by wat10000

Sort of. Many people state a direct experience with a higher power as the source of their belief in one, so it is similar. But not quite the same, because consciousness is the thing doing the experiencing. It’s more fundamental in that way. The experience of a higher power could be false, in that it’s not really a higher power. But it is some experience. Consciousness can’t be false in that way.

These debates always leave me wondering if some people aren’t actually conscious. Some of these arguments wouldn’t make any sense to someone who actually experiences qualia. I liken it to the old debate over the existence of mental imagery, which was finally settled as being something that some people have and some don’t. But until that was figured out, the two sides just didn’t comprehend each other.