Hurricanes, storms, droughts and floods were all the work of the gods. You must appease the gods by sacrificing those things most precious to you... first born children, the best of the crops and the healthiest strongest livestock. Then, we started studying the skies, rivers and season and realized that there were perfectly understandable reasons for the things that happened.
Ah, but the gods could still get upset... we still had times that the moon went grey or the sun was blotted from the sky. There were also those strange lights that appeared in the sky at regular intervals. Surely, these things were the works of supernatural creatures! However, we discovered geology and plate tectonics and these thing were explained away.
Lightning comes from the heavens and must certainly be sent by the gods to punish mankind. None could fathom anything strong enough to wield such terrible, powerful destruction. Then we discovered electricity and the electrodynamics of the atmosphere and all was clear.
Still, mankind was dying in mysterious ways. A man would fall ill and the sickness was manifested in his family and friends. This again must be the work of gods. These people or their forbears must have done something to upset the gods. Yes, they are probably secretly evil in their thoughts! The gods know all! However, we discovered that there was a microscopic realm of organisms that perfectly explained all that was observed.
Modern science has explained so many of the things that were originally attributed to supernatural forces. As science progresses, the believers in the supernatural become more and more obstinate in their beliefs. Hopefully this will change one day.
