ABSTRACT
Naturalism has been widely discussed in academic philosophy for at least the past sixty years. If it is true that naturalism defeats religion, then it is hard to understand why a substantial proportion of academic philosophers are religious. The first claim is that there is a sense in which best naturalistic big pictures are minimal: the only theoretical commitments that best naturalistic big pictures have are theoretical commitments that they share with all other best big pictures; all other best big pictures have additional theoretical commitments beyond the theoretical commitments of best naturalistic big pictures. Naturalistic big pictures are characterised by their commitment to the following two claims: Causal reality is natural reality; and Scientific method is our touchstone for identifying denizens of causal reality. The term ‘religious artifact’ can be construed to include religious buildings, religious organisations, religious texts, and other ‘constructed’ religious objects.
