Contemporary Naturalistic Religion

What should one contrast nature with? The supernatural, maybe? What is meant here by supernaturalism is the thesis that the divine is different in kind from familiar things and persons; and/or that there are divine interventions that are contrary to the laws of nature. If this is the relevant contrast then naturalistic religion requires merely that God be taken as either a person or a community of persons. God is then like humans, although infinitely more powerful, and acts in the world in whatever way people act when they exercise their freedom. Such anti-supernaturalism is weaker than naturalism as understood by contemporary philosophers, who would balk at calling the dualist Richard Swinburne (2004), the idealists Timothy Sprigge (1983) and John Foster (2004), or even the nonreductive physicalist Peter Forrest (1996) naturalists. This suggests that naturalism is to be contrasted not...