Can you be an Athiest AND superstitious?

Of course you can be both an atheist and superstitious.

Superstition is the belief that certain rituals will avert disaster.

Disaster is not necessarily a deity--although some cultures personify both Luck and Fate.,

if he can rub his tummy while patting his head he is not an atheist, he is a most likely a methodist.(or mormon)

I came to think atheism and superstition were incompatible and so as not to be hypocritical, I gave up superstition. Superstitions are fun, but now I boldly walk under ladders (that one actually seems like a safety issue), leave spilt salt alone, and call over the black kitty crossing my path.

Has anyone ever thought about why superstitions exist? I mean, take the salt thing: salt used to be a precious commodity, if you spilt some, why would you waste more tossing perfectly good salt over your shoulder?

Depends if atheism is limited to just not believing in god(s). If so, it leaves whole realsm of 'supernatural' entities there, all of which can be connected to superstition. But the two do not easily go hand in hand, I give you that.

LittleK, In my belief, superstitions were men's way of coping with fenomena they could not avert or explain, such as drought, or sickness, etc. The superstitions gave men some form of control. One could do certain things to make a child better, or catch a thief, or save the harvest, etc.

Makes sense...... but what about silly superstitions like broken mirrors bringing bad luck, squashed spiders bringing rain and spilt salt (what does spilt salt bring?)?

Sure, why not?

To put it in other terms, all religion is superstition, but not all superstition is religion.

Aaaahhhh.......

To put it in still other terms, superstition is to religion what astrology is to astronomy.

Religion aims to worship gods.

Superstition is an attempt to control the gods.

You read about the power of superstition in older, less educated societies: in parts of Africa twins were seen as a bad sign [because they were beyond the normal order of things] so one - or was it both - were taken into the forest and left to starve.

I'm not trying to take the thread on a gruesome turn I'm just pointing out that superstition can soon get out of hand if it is allowed to...

...reading with great interest


But surely, superstition implies 'other forces' are controlling your everyday life and this in turn implies a belief in the supernatural...

To believe in the supernatural, one would assume you would also believe in 'unseen' forces, therefore you cannot be an atheist?

Besides, I always thought that superstition around the number 13 was related to the last supper?

Please correct if wrong...

x

I'll just roll over and agree with your premise, Smorgs.. which I do.



Where is the elevator...

There are many explanations for the number 13 and particularly Friday the 13th.

There is a Norse myth about 12 gods having a dinner party at Valhalla, their heaven. In walked the uninvited 13th guest, the mischievous Loki. Once there, Loki arranged for Hoder, the blind god of darkness, to shoot Balder the Beautiful, the god of joy and gladness, with a mistletoe-tipped arrow. Balder died and the Earth got dark. The whole Earth mourned.

There is a Biblical reference to the unlucky number 13. Judas, the apostle who betrayed Jesus, was the 13th guest to the Last Supper.

A particularly bad Friday the 13th occurred in the middle ages. On a Friday the 13th in 1306, King Philip of France arrested the revered Knights Templar and began torturing them, marking the occasion as a day of evil.

In ancient Rome, witches reportedly gathered in groups of 12. The 13th was believed to be the devil.

Both Friday and the number 13 were once closely associated with capital punishment. In British tradition, Friday was the conventional day for public hangings, and there were supposedly 13 steps leading up to the noose.

It is traditionally believed that Eve tempted Adam with the apple on a Friday. Tradition also has it that the Flood in the Bible, the confusion at the Tower of Babel, and the death of Jesus Christ all took place on Friday.

Numerologists consider 12 a "complete" number. There are 12 months in a year, 12 signs of the zodiac, 12 gods of Olympus, 12 labors of Hercules, 12 tribes of Israel, and 12 apostles of Jesus. In exceeding 12 by 1, 13's association with bad luck has to do with just being a little beyond completeness.

...very interesting

I have to go to work now, there is nothing nicer than The Jobcentre on a hot day...

Check back later


x

Meet you for a spot of tea on the thirteenth floor...

I lived on the 13th floor of an apartment building several years ago. It was the top floor, so they called it the Penthouse.

That's about right. I wonder if they are still doing that within the presently rampant worldwide proliferation of skyscrapers...

Many buildings go from floor 12 to floor 14.