A natural religion, sometimes also referred to as a nature religion, is a classification of religions whose central premise in the most general sense is to focus on natural phenomena to receive religious inspiration, spirituality, and belief, or as an object of contemplation. In essence, a natural religion either avoids or totally disregards the supernatural and places the natural at the centre of devotion, contemplation, and interaction for religious and philosophical benefit.
Natural religion can be argued, and is argued in Astronist scholarship, to be the oldest form of religious belief as natural phenomena were the first objects of interaction for the developing minds of the Neanderthals.
It is for this reason that our prehistoric ancestors worshipped waterfalls, bears, rivers, and the stars. The natural world was correctly interpreted by prehistoric humanity to be in control of their survival. If the rains did not come to water their crops, they would starve. If the stars disappeared, they wouldn't know when to harvest. If the fish and mammals went missing, they would be forced to eat a restricted diet. Perhaps it is true that our ancestors, due to their close dependency upon the natural world better understood humanity's symbiotic relationship with nature than even we do today.
It therefore shouldn't be surprising to us that our of this necessary dependence of man upon nature, their slowly developed the concept of worship. "To keep nature happy, we must worship nature," you can imagine the ancients thinking and saying this line. And so, from this came one of the earliest forms of religious belief; bear worship, and then followed astrolatry; the astronomical religions from which Astronism proclaims its lineage and heritage.
The best way to understand what a natural religion is may be through contrasting. The dominant religious traditions of the latest 2,500 years and particularly those that have survived to this day have been mainly based upon a supernaturalistic understanding of the world and our place within it. Gods, goddesses, demigods, resurrections, miracles, special abilities and powers, oracles and the list could go on.
A natural religion, on the other hand, and this is where the "natural religions" depart in definition from "nature religions" slightly is that a natural religion would generally reject all forms of supernaturalism while instead focusing on the natural phenomena of the world and the universe to gain religious and philosophical knowledge, inspiration, faith, hope, meaning, and all other emotions associated with religious and philosophical systems.
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