Abstract
The term “naturalism” is used by philosophers to refer to both a view of philosophy itself and a way of understanding the subject matter of particular disciplines. In both contexts we may distinguish between a substantive and a methodological naturalism. These define themselves by reference to either the conclusions or the methods of our best natural sciences. When it comes to religion, a substantive naturalism would rule out, in principle, certain (but not all) kinds of religious claims, namely those that made reference to non-natural entities. A methodological naturalism would not necessarily rule out such claims, although whether it does will depend on how broadly one understands the term “science.” A final option in this regard is “religious naturalism,” which accepts that there are no non-natural entities, but adopts a religious attitude towards the natural world.