Source: “The Death of Supernaturalism: The Case For Process Naturalism”, Copyright © 2025 by Chad Bahl, First Edition.
This topic serves as an introduction to a theological project that argues for the rejection of supernaturalism to save the credibility of modern faith. Drawing on the "experience-based" theology of Friedrich Schleiermacher and the process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead, the author explores how defining God as an intervening force creates the problem of evil and conflicts with scientific reason. By utilizing the work of David Ray Griffin, the source proposes a "naturalistic" theism where God acts through uncontrolling love rather than through the suspension of natural laws. Ultimately, the book seeks to construct a metamodern grand narrative that allows for a vibrant, intellectually consistent belief in the divine without the baggage of traditional supernatural claims.
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In the mid-20th century, theistic belief was the cognitive bedrock of the American psyche. Gallup data from the 1960s revealed a near-total consensus: 98% of the population affirmed a belief in God. Today, we are witnessing the slow-motion fracturing of that consensus. That figure has slipped to 81%, with the most dramatic erosion occurring among the young and the college-educated.
This decline is rarely a simple matter of intellectual apathy. Instead, it is a symptom of a profound cognitive dissonance. Modern seekers find themselves caught in a vice: they possess a lingering hunger for a "grand narrative" that imbues life with meaning, yet they cannot reconcile a "controlling" deity with a world defined by the rigor of scientific discovery and the weight of unmitigated suffering.
The problem, however, may not be God, but rather a specific, clunky architectural frame we have insisted on calling "supernaturalism." If faith is to survive the move into the next century, we may find that the "death" of the supernatural is not a loss, but a liberation—the only way to salvage a divinity that is actually believable.