Validity of Religious Experiences ... Or Not?

The central article in the front page section of the Salt Lake Tribune today is about Warren Jeffs, the on trial leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and his control over followers of the church even while he was a fugitive and trying to evade capture by authorities. The story is based on Jeffs' diary which was made public by the Texas court. You may want to read the entire story - I would encourage that - which is found at: http://www.sltrib.com/ci_11844447 and is written by Brooke Adams.

There is one section on which I want to focus. From the story is this description:

Jeffs would invite select family members and followers to join him in prayer, giving them the chance to feel, through his touch, the "all-consuming fire of heaven."

Several women, Jeffs said, bore witness that they had seen heavenly beings while in his presence or watched as he was physically taken away.

I cannot begin to understand what those women saw or thought they saw, but, based on other things I have read from people who are still part of the FLDS, I would bet that they would still affirm the reality and the truth of their religious experience in seeing "heavenly beings" or in seeing Jeffs "taken away" by these divine messengers.

That leads to my wonderings. In some religious circles, the claim is made that every person's religious experiences are to be considered just as valid and as true as every other person's. Thus, for instance, in those circles, I should not assert that those women were mistaken in what they saw and merely manipulated by their charismatic leader. Their perceptions define the validity and truthfulness of their experiences. If they believed it was true, no one should dispute their claim. In the same way, they should not tell me that my religious experiences were invalid or untrue even though I do not follow the teachings of Warren Jeffs.

BUT, what do you do when someone's religious teaching leads to violence or to the degradation of other human beings. If Preacher X teaches that a particular group of people is sinful and do not deserve to live, for example, should that be allowed to stand without a challenge? At what point, then, should we cease to be accepting of the validity of religious experiences and call the Preacher and the followers to task? I hope you struggle with this ass much as I do.