# Philosophy of Religion — Branch of Philosophy Philosophy of religion examines the central claims and concepts of religion — God's existence and nature, the problem of evil, faith and reason, miracles, and religious language — using the tools of philosophy rather than the authority of revelation. ## Why it matters for this KB This branch is the intellectual machinery beneath the American religious right. **Natural theology** — the project of reasoning to God's existence without scripture, descending from [[Thomas Aquinas]]'s "five ways" — underwrites the claim that religious morality is rationally compulsory, not merely sectarian. The [[Discovery Institute]]'s intelligent-design program is a contemporary (and contested) descendant. The problem of evil and the faith-vs-reason question (from [[Augustine of Hippo]] through [[Søren Kierkegaard]]'s "leap of faith" to [[David Hume]]'s skeptical critiques) structure debates between believers, the New Atheists, and the post-liberal religious right. This branch pairs directly with `/Foundations/Religions/` (the substrate) and with the [[Natural Law]] and [[Thomism]] traditions. ## Relationship to other branches It draws on [[Metaphysics]] (what kind of being God would be), [[Epistemology]] (whether religious belief can be knowledge), and [[Ethics]] (divine-command vs. natural-law morality). See the [[Philosophy]] hub.