ELI5: What is exactly is Methodological Naturalism?

[aleo (Albert Leo)]

@LM77

By contrast, methodological naturalism says, “there may be supernatural forces affecting the world, but it is the goal of science to study natural and not the supernatural. If supernatural ‘things’ exist it is not the purpose of science to either try to explain them or detect them.”

Is this essentially the same as Steve Gould’s NOMA?
AlLeo

[LM77 (Liam Maguire)]

Forgive me, @aleo, what is Steve Gould’s NOMA?

[MarkD (A Whateverist, not a Christian)]

Seems related to me. Something like the idea that science and religion are non overlapping is what would empower Christians working in science to do the science without fear of discovering anything that could extinguish their faith. So long as faith is not about empirical claims, how can the advance of scientific understanding threaten it? Is that what you were thinking too, @LM77?

[sfmatheson]

@LM77

what is Steve Gould’s NOMA?

Non-overlapping magisteria

[LM77 (Liam Maguire)]

@aleo, @MarkD, @sfmatheson: thanks so much, I’ll check this out! Looks interesting.

[jpm (Phil McCurdy)]

@MarkD

Something like the idea that science and religion are non overlapping is what would empower Christians working in science to do the science without fear of discovering anything that could extinguish their faith.

That idea is frequently thrown out, but is sort of strange when you think about it as it based faith on fear: you should not seek truth because you are afraid the truth would destroy your faith. If truth destroys your faith, it is not worth much in the first place, is it? (Not saying that is your position, Mark, just musing on your words)

[Randy]

Really interesting. I have heard friends who claim that those investigating the earth’s origins (as in evolution) are only looking for a reason to disbelieve in God. In that way, they implied it would be wrong to research as of course the Bible (or their understanding of it) told us evolution did not happen.