Theism and Explanation - Appeared-to-Blogly

Against Religious Explanations 17
Does this conclusion support the methodological naturalism which I discussed
at the beginning of this chapter, the idea that we can exclude, from
the outset, proposed religious explanations? No, it does not. It leaves open
the bare possibility that there might exist a successful religious explanation,
one that would warrant our acceptance. What I hope this study will do is
to spell out the conditions that a successful religious explanation would
have to meet. Once one has examined these conditions, one may come to
suspect that it is unlikely that any proposed religious explanation would be
successful. 83 This suggests that religious explanations should be, at best,
explanations of last resort. 84 But whether or not any proposed religious
explanation will ever be shown to be successful remains an open question.
If the world really is as advocates of naturalism believe, we have nothing to
fear from allowing that question to be openly addressed.