natural religion

natural religion (countable and uncountable, plural natural religions)

1. Religion that arises from human reason and experience, as opposed to that which is based on miraculous or supernatural revelation.
   • 1812, Thomas Halyburton, Natural Religion Insufficient, and Revealed Necessary, to Man's Happiness in his Present State; or, A Rational Inquiry into the Principles of the Modern Deists, page 39:

     I own indeed that most who have evinced the truth of reveal religion, have said something of the weakness of natural religion.

   • 1923, Joseph Shaw Bolton, Natural Religion: The Ultimate Religion of Mankind:

     But this natural religion of mankind has, in every country, become encrusted over by many accretions which are artificial.

   • 2007, James V. Guiducci, Natural Religion Against Slavery, page 1:

     The Enlightenment's emphasis on reason brought about an elevation of natural religion in New England thought as Calvinist ideals declined in the 1700s.

   • 2012, Vernon Staley, The Natural Religion, page 4:

     In our own day, natural religion has been contrasted with supernatural religion or revealed religion properly so called.

2. Religion that sees God and spirituality as a part of nature, and not as something supernatural.
   • 1867, George R. Drysdale, The Elements of Social Science, page 445:

     Man is the most exalted manifestation of Nature, and thus the highest object of reverence to him, who is imbued with natural religion.

   • 1886, Sir John Robert Seeley, Natural Religion, page 78:

     Nature, considered as the residuum which is left after the elimination of everything supernatural, comprehends man with all this thoughts and aspirations not less than the forms of the material world. Accordingly, the natural religion of which we are in search will certainly include a religion of Humanity as well as a religion of material things.

   • 1898, Franz Hettinger, Henry Sebastian Bowden, Natural Religion, page 258:

     Nay, further, positive religion presupposes natural religion, for the recognition of God in nature enables man to understand and accept the divine dealings in revelation and history.

• “natural religion”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.