It’s bad luck to be superstitious

WE humans are a funny lot. When I was growing up even the non religious carried little St Christopher medals in their cars as some sort of superstitious protection from harm. Even after the Vatican ‘de-sainted’ Christopher, on the grounds that he had never really existed anyway, the medals still sold well.
A US company is selling a toaster that takes your daily bread and burns the image of Jesus or the Virgin Mary onto it. It’s a success. The inventor hopes to expand by introducing more religious icons.
In India, owls are in danger of becoming extinct because the superstitious believe wearing parts of the bird around their necks will ward off bad spirits.
An Associated Press poll found that one in five people in western nations admit to being at least somewhat superstitious and the most likely admitted superstition was finding a four-leaf clover.
All religious beliefs and practices may be considered superstition by unbelievers
But another poll showed that traditional Christians are about four times less likely than agnostics/atheists to believe in astrology, pseudo science and “luck”.
Belief in superstition seems to have little to do with intelligence or status. President Franklin D Roosevelt refused to sit at a table with thirteen guests, President Woodrow Wilson believed that 13 was his lucky number. Indeed, on one occasion, Wilson ordered a ship to slow down – so that he could arrive in Europe on the 13th of the month.
Famed tenor Enrico Caruso’s life was ruled by superstitions. He refused to travel on Fridays and insisted on slipping a coin into his right-hand pocket before donning a new suit.
Although he smoked up to 60 cigarettes a day, he was convinced that he could protect his health by keeping a dried anchovy suspended over his chest, hanging from a necklace
And many avoid walking under ladders because it is “bad luck” and hold their breath when driving by cemeteries.
The New Age movement carries the silliness to extremes. It teaches that crystals have all kinds of powers when, in reality, they are only pretty paperweights.
Jesus recognized that superstition was all about ignorance and fear.
The religious leaders at Jesus’ time had an immensely complicated system of rituals before meals and even before prayers. Jesus encountered the superstitious and said “Don’t be afraid”.
A belief in superstitions gives people an illusion of control in an uncertain world.
True faith is not about bringing you luck. It is about sharing in the loving relationship that exists between God and his creation. It requires an open mind.
It involves trust but also evidence; it is not, like superstition, blind faith. It is objective faith – the most centered act of the human mind.
Superstition, unlike faith, has no substantial basis; nor are its conclusions reached by logical deductions.
True faith is not the basis of the religion of fear, to protect people from the nightmares of existence, but to awaken people to their greatest dreams.