Contemporary approaches, however, differ from Hume’s work in two respects. They take advantage of significant scientific developments and the explanatory resources that have arisen since Hume’s time, and, consequently, they are usually less concerned with the rational status of religious beliefs and actions. Their methods are scientific and their interests are solely explanatory. Therefore, they remain noncommittal with regard to the array of metaphysical assumptions in which religions and their believers routinely traffic, and they accord no privilege to religious knowledge claims or religious “ways of knowing.”