Even the most rabid materialist can conceive of a universe created and moderated by an extreme intelligence, without having to succumb to the concept of the supernatural. Science fiction writers have posited human computer programmers creating simulated universes inhabited by virtual conscious beings. These beings may even view their creators as supernatural beings, even if the creators only see themselves as mere technicians.

But I think it would be very difficult for the devoutly religious to accept his deity as being a highly advanced but mortal entity subject to the laws of nature. This is what separates the theist from the a-theist. The former puts a precondition on God, he MUST be supernatural. The latter refuses to recognize the supernatural as a possibility, he does not reject the possibility of a deity, he rejects the idea of nature being divided into two parts: a real and a spiritual. If God exists, he must play by the rules too. For the theist, God can make up the rules as he goes along. Indeed, he has to, or He's not God, He's just an advanced being.

The pre-Socratics envisioned something called Nature, which operated independently of Man and the gods, something which was open to human understanding using human reason and not limited to revelation. It was a non-anthropocentric view of reality which is what Western science is based upon. It is not inconceivable that this idea may be all wrong, which is essentially what the Platonists suggested. But I've made my choice and I'm sticking with it.