Reply to Gordon Kaufman
Jerome A. Stone
4-27-06
unpublished
Reply_to_Kaufman.doc"I define religious naturalism as a type of naturalism. As I use the term,
naturalism is defined by a contrast-class, supernaturalism. Naturalism thus involves the assertion that there seems to be
no ontologically distinct and superior realm (such as God, soul or heaven) to ground, explain, or give meaning to this world (Stone 2000, 2003).
"
Religious naturalism is a set of beliefs and attitudes that there are
religious aspects of this world which can be appreciated within a naturalistic framework. There are some happenings or processes in our
experience which elicit responses which can appropriately be called religious. These experiences and responses are
similar enough to those nurtured by the paradigm cases of religion that they may be called religious without stretching the word beyond recognition.
"Among religious naturalists I would include George Santayana, John Dewey, Henry Nelson Wieman, and John Herman Randall. However, many of these, like John Dewey, provide a pretty thin religious diet. One of the great values of Kaufman’s contribution to religious naturalism is that he provides a
religious or
spiritual richness, a
texture,
depth and
substance to naturalism."
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