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At the risk of ruffling feathers, today I want to write at least in part about religion. Allow me to begin with a caveat: I am in no way advocating that anyone tergiversate from any religious beliefs, nor am I ridiculing anyone’s faith; I’m simply going to put my own beliefs out there for discussion.

I don’t believe in a god, in the same way that I don’t believe in the Loch Ness Monster, the Tooth Fairy, or an invisible friend named Grover. Which is not to say I insist no such things exist; rather, I lump Jesus, Allah, and Santa Claus into the same general category of stuff that is arbitrary and unprovable, and therefore of no consequence to my life.

The fact that so many people are willing to believe in gods, without any evidence, interests me greatly, so I am keen to write about it. I don’t judge anyone on their beliefs, nor do I think any individual is immature or primitive because they believe in a god. I do think that the widespread belief in gods is evidence of the immaturity of the human race as a whole, but individuals are another matter. An individual (usually) believes because the group does, so any one person who believes in something, even something fantastic, is in no way flawed or primitive. That person is a product of his environment. To take a random example, a citizen of ancient Greece who believed in Zeus was not foolish for believing the prevailing myth.

As a race, humans have taken amazing strides in terms of science and medicine. We’ve put men on the moon, cured scores of diseases, and have a firm understanding of the universe at its most basic, sub-atomic level. We have computers and airplanes, the internet and mobile phones, to name but a few seemingly miraculous inventions. However, in terms of mental enlightenment, although we may like to think otherwise, we’re only a few steps beyond the level of the primitive.

I’m not referring exclusively to religion here, but to all forms of superstition. It’s preposterous to even consider that the number 13 is unlucky, yet nearly all buildings skip the 13th floor, instead jumping from 12 to 14. Countless people actually believe in good luck charms, lucky traditions, curses, or that you can jinx something by talking about it. It’s all complete nonsense, but the belief in the existence of luck or the truth of superstitions is deep-rooted in many people. And really, how can we believe we’re an enlightened populace when a significant percentage of the population believes in astrology?

Today’s Question: If the Red Sox meet the Cubs in the World Series, will the world end?