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 andtheir interests are solely explanatory. Therefore, they remain noncommittal with regardto the array of metaphysical assumptions in which religions and their believersroutinely traffic, and they accord no privilege to religious knowledge claims or religious“ways of knowing.”