Supernaturalism
Supernaturalism is the belief that events in the world are influenced or caused by forces beyond the known laws of science and nature. Typically associated with religious contexts, supernaturalism posits that a deity or divine presence exists outside the natural order and actively created and interacts with the world. This perspective is foundational to many major faiths, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, which all encompass beliefs in supernatural beings and events, such as angels and miracles.
The term "supernatural" originates from the Latin word "supernaturalis," meaning "above nature," and historically, it has been used to refer to both religious experiences and unexplained phenomena. Supernaturalism contrasts with naturalism, which asserts that everything can be understood through nature and science without invoking external explanations. While naturalists argue that many events once considered supernatural have natural explanations, supernaturalists maintain that an intelligent force or god is responsible for the universe's complexity and morality. This philosophical divide often sparks discussions regarding the nature of goodness and morality, especially in relation to atheists who may share similar ethical beliefs without subscribing to a divine influence.
Supernaturalism
Supernaturalism is the belief that something outside of the known forces of science and nature is responsible for events in the world. While supernatural can refer to such things as ghosts and other seemingly unexplainable beings and occurrences, the term is generally used in a religious context to refer to faith traditions that believe that a deity who exists and operates outside the natural order of things created the world and interacts with the world. In this definition, supernaturalism encompasses any religion that has a god with a divine or spiritual presence, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Background
The word supernatural comes from the Latin supernaturalis. This in turn is derived from the Latin words super, meaning "above," and natura, meaning "nature." In its original use, the word was focused on things pertaining to God; later, supernatural came into more general use to refer to ghosts and other unworldly creatures. Since the nineteenth century, its most common usage has referred to things beyond the established course of nature.
While supernatural conveys the idea of unexplained happenings, spooky events, and strange experiences, supernaturalism as a concept is the opposite of naturalism, which focuses on a scientific view of the world. Supernaturalism takes the viewpoint that there is a god in control of nature, or that there is a supreme being that is above the forces of nature.
This connection with otherworldly events and beings sometimes causes people who are part of supernatural faith traditions, such as Christianity, to reject the concept of supernaturalism. However, these faiths generally draw their very meaning from supernatural concepts, beings, and events. The sacred texts of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim faith all contain accounts of angels, which are above nature as supernatural beings, and the miracles spoken of in these and other holy books are seen as events that happen outside of the normal forces of nature. As described in the Bible, the incarnation (coming in human form) as well as the resurrection of Jesus Christ, central points of the Christian faith, are supernatural events. Catholics and other Christians believe that God bestows grace—unmerited blessing and gifts, such as salvation—on followers to strengthen and renew them for the challenges of life. Any event, action, or happening that is attributed to the power of a god or deity is a supernatural event in the context of the concept of supernaturalism.
Naturalism vs. Supernaturalism
The idea of a supernatural or above-nature being directing the universe comes into conflict with another belief system, naturalism. Naturalism is a philosophy that holds that no additional explanation is necessary for the universe and the things in it beyond the fact that they exist. Naturalists do not believe in a larger purpose for the world or the things and people in it beyond the fact that they are here, and believe that human life just happened because of the way nature operates.
The supernaturalist viewpoint is that a force beyond nature and humankind—a divinity or god—created both the natural world and humans and can control all aspects of both, should this supernatural force care to. While naturalists believe that humans cannot change nature but can work in conjunction with it, supernaturalists believe that humans are superior to nature and can affect it. Naturalists emphasize becoming unified with nature, while supernaturalists strive to bring their actions in line with the supernatural being's will.
These two viewpoints sometimes come into opposition when people who subscribe to one or the other of the beliefs claim that the other belief is patently false. In these philosophical arguments, some naturalists will claim that supernaturalism can be refuted by the application of reason and science. They note that various faiths have different gods, some of which are contradictory in their practices, and that many events previously thought to be supernatural in nature have since been proven to have natural causes. For instance, ancient people believed thunder and lightning were a showing of displeasure by the gods, while it is now know to be a normal weather event. Other events that seem to be supernatural also have explanations that simply have not yet been discovered, naturalists believe. On the other hand, supernaturalists believe that the intricate, complicated way the universe is put together did not occur by accident and that an intelligent force acted to put it together and still acts in the world today. They believe that proving naturalism requires first disproving that something above nature exists; in other words, that the supernatural first be disproven.
Supernaturalism includes the theory that all goodness and morality come from the divine being. Corollaries of this are that things are good because the divine being, or god, says they are and that the way to be good is to do what pleases the being. This raises questions of how people are good and moral but do not follow a belief system that falls into the supernaturalism philosophy, such as atheists, who do not believe in any divine being. The fact that there are often shared concepts of morality between people in supernaturalism faith traditions and atheists seems to confuse the issue. Followers of supernaturalism say that the answer is that even those who do not believe in a divine being are subject to the ethics of the deity even if they do not acknowledge the deity or are unaware of a divine influence in their lives. Others believe that the moral beliefs and behaviors that are shared across many cultures and peoples are the same because people are inherently the same in many ways.
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