Changes

=== Competing explanations and criteria of preference ===

=== Competing explanations and criteria of preference ===

For some people it is not a matter of supernatural events versus natural events. They are all events but there can be many competing explanations. The question then becomes what [[criteria]] shall one use to prefer one explanation over another. One must be careful not to confuse the phenomenon with the explanation. We may agree that a bush has burst into flames, where we may differ is in the explanation of that event. The supernaturalist in that instance prefers the supernatural explanation based on one or a number of criteria of preference. It could be because the explanation includes constructs such as an immortal soul and other purported phenomena such as it rising to a place of great joy upon being released at death and they find this very attractive. The naturalist may prefer the natural explanation because such explanations are required to have predictive power, and being able to predict in a reliable way what will happen when a certain set of circumstances is present is something they find attractive. There are many people that are comfortable with accepting both explanations to satisfy several preferences such as a supernatural explanation that provides comfort from the thought of death and the natural explanation because of its utility in being able to reliably control fire, for example Christians that accept the Theory of Evolution but still explain reality as a deliberate creation of their god. A person may be a naturalist because they are driven by the preference of predictability rather than comfort whereas another person may be a supernaturalist because they prefer explanations that make them feel better about their eventual death rather than how useful they are on actual reality.{{Fact|date=April 2007}}

For some people it is not a matter of supernatural events versus natural events. They are all events but there can be many competing explanations. The question then becomes what [[criteria]] shall one use to prefer one explanation over another. One must be careful not to confuse the phenomenon with the explanation. We may agree that a bush has burst into flames, where we may differ is in the explanation of that event. The supernaturalist in that instance prefers the supernatural explanation based on one or a number of criteria of preference. It could be because the explanation includes constructs such as an immortal soul and other purported phenomena such as it rising to a place of great joy upon being released at death and they find this very attractive. The naturalist may prefer the natural explanation because such explanations are required to have predictive power, and being able to predict in a reliable way what will happen when a certain set of circumstances is present is something they find attractive. There are many people that are comfortable with accepting both explanations to satisfy several preferences such as a supernatural explanation that provides comfort from the thought of death and the natural explanation because of its utility in being able to reliably control fire, for example Christians that accept the Theory of Evolution but still explain reality as a deliberate creation of their god. A person may be a naturalist because they are driven by the preference of predictability rather than comfort whereas another person may be a supernaturalist because they prefer explanations that make them feel better about their eventual death rather than how useful they are on actual reality.

=== Alleged instances of supernaturalization ===

=== Alleged instances of supernaturalization ===