"Roughly speaking, one aspect of God -- the Ruler of Nature Who satisfied the desire to understand our surroundings and ourselves -- was abstracted into naturalistic scientific explanations. The study of nature yielded no longer knowledge of God but simply knowledge of nature. Another side of God -- the Moral Governor Who satisfied the need for good order and the longing for a better life -- was identified with purely human activities and aspirations. Humanitarianism, science, progress, could operate without divine sanction. A third dimension of God -- the mysterious God of Heaven Who struck humans with awe and humility -- was much diminished, as believers shifted the main focus of their concern from God's transcendence of earthly things to His compatibility with humanity, its wants, its aspirations, it ways of understanding. What remained of awe before divine mystery was transformed into reverence for such surrogates as nature, art, and humanity itself. ...and thus naturalistic explanations and ideals slowly came to satisfy cultural and personal needs once me by belief in God".
-- Without God, Without Creed: The Origins of Unbelief in America, James Turner, 1985, p. 265.
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