Quote:
Originally Posted by let455_
What's naturalism ? And theism is belief in God right?
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Naturalism is the thought that the universe (reality, cosmos, existence...) is comprised of natural components and processes. Matter and energy in various forms, and processes governed by laws, such as gravity, electromagnetism, laws of physics, etc. The thought is that this is all that there is, and this is sufficient to explain the universe and everything within it.
Theism is belief in a god or gods, although not necessarily the Christian God. Might be Allah, might be Shiva, might be Zeus or Odin. Might be a vague, ill-defined god. Mostly, but not exclusively, on this page people refer to one variation or another of a monotheistic Christian god. But commonly accepted that there is "something else" in addition to mere energy, matter and physical laws, such as a creative force that may or may not guide natural processes.
Given those two very broadly described thoughts, people tend to believe one or the other. Atheists tend to be naturalists, Christians, Jews, pagans, and others tend to be theists.
There are a few people who try to state that the physical universe is god, and anything supernatural (people flying, talking snakes, resurrections, miraculous healings....) are really just part of the natural world and not actually miraculous.
Arach often writes in tortured English, he is not the best at communicating clearly. He likes to complain that these two groups of thoughts are both wrong, and anybody that adheres to one or the other strongly is radical in some way. He seems to have sympathies with the third hybrid group.
Tzap is a theist. Jewish specifically, but her specific belief is relatively unimportant, as it is clearly theistic.
FWIW, I am an atheist.
My very brief descriptions would be argued by many on this forum, and the specifics of anything I have said will not universally apply to any poster, or group of posters. I thought that your question was reasonable and deserved an unbiased answer, rather than people responding by beating their various drums.