Just a nitpick, Duce, but the brain doesn't release opiates. Opiates are only found in the poppy from which extracts like morphine is made. Rather, the brain releases opioids like endorphine. They connect to opioid receptors and produce a sense of well-being. Morphine (an opiate) connects to those same receptors, hence the confusion.
When I see religious groups on television partaking in excorcisms, speaking in tongues and other (for me) abnormal behaviors, I notice a lot of group pressure, suggestion and hypnosis techniques. Crowds are whipped up into emotional frenzy, the preacher gets very loud, forceful and aggressive in behaviour and people are commanded to act a certain way. For a poor social mammal, it's just too much to resist.
If these religious experiences were "real", they shouldn't have to depend on psychological trickery like peer pressure, suggestion and hypnosis/self-hypnosis.
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