David Hume's View Of Natural Religion

The topic that will be discussed with this essay is natural religion, this is a phrase that is used to describe religion as being a part of nature. All things such as gods, souls, sprits, and so forth, are all linked to nature and not separate from it. Religion is based on principles, which are all down to reason and the study of nature. This is done by explaining religion as something from nature rather than some unknown source. Before the creation of natural religion, it was the view that religion was based on some divine revelation. Much like how diseases were viewed within the Middle Ages, it was believed that diseases were caused by poisonous vapours, which were named miasma, which people thought was from dirt. In addition to this people
He was viewed as a sceptic and he didn’t believe in the validity of knowledge, especially when it came to humans views of god. David Hume was born in 1711, in Scotland and died 1776. Within his life he had an influential role for Scottish enlightenment. His final idea was that human’s desire rather than reason made up human behaviour. Unlike Lord Herbet of Cherbury believing that god had created him with rationality to question god, he believed god was a projection of human desires. His theory of free will, was also extremely influential on moral philosophy that followed. Within his essay, of Miracles the second part is where he discusses four factors that all are against the creditability of miracles. The first factor is that witnesses of miracles typically lack integrity. Secondly, we are naturally inclined to enjoy sensational stories. The third factor is that miracle testimonies usually occur in less civilised countries. Lastly miracles support rival religious systems and thus discredit each other. Although most of his views were about religion, his own personal relationship with religion was unknown, some people believe that he was an atheist, and when he lived the church of Scotland actually considered charges of infidelity against him. Hume made the argument that polytheism not monotheism was the original religion for primitive humans. He believed that monotheism was actually only later developed with the progress of various societies. He questioned if God had a creator, and if so who, as there must have been someone who created this all mighty supreme figure. He also questioned why god is so perfect, and yet the human world is so imperfect, as that can only be created by an imperfect god. For example children dying from a disease that they got from their parents, people explain that this is because of the parent's sin.