Hang on, can't one be an atheist and believe in spirits? It's 'a-theist', not 'a-spiritist'. For example, I know atheists that swear they have seen ghosts.
True, although atheism in its most common form tends to align itself with a naturalistic perspective - which technically would preclude anything like ghosts for example. Of course how that works out in practice is another story.Hang on, can't one be an atheist and believe in spirits? It's 'a-theist', not 'a-spiritist'.
Indeed, there was thread here about how one study showed that atheists tend to be more superstitious than theists. It was noted for example how superstitions didn't die out in the Soviet Union, despite officially being an atheist country. At least within the Abrahamic religions, superstitions have been continually condemned.For example, I know atheists that swear they have seen ghosts.
At least within the Abrahamic religions, superstitions have been continually condemned.
In what way exactly?I find the exact opposite to be true, in my experience
In what way exactly?
Miracles are not the same thing as superstitions. I crossed out contagious homosexuality because that isn't a miracle, nor even a real argument from religion.Virgin births, resurrections, angel sightings,contagious homosexuality, transmuting bread and wine into flesh and blood, and planetary flooding come to mind
Yeah did you read this part?
wikipedia said:The Roman Catholic Church considers superstition to be sinful in the sense that it denotes a lack of trust in the divine providence of God and, as such, is a violation of the first of the Ten Commandments. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states superstition "in some sense represents a perverse excess of religion" (para. #2110).
The Catechism attempts to dispel commonly held preconceptions or misunderstandings about Catholic doctrine relating to superstitious practices:
Superstition is a deviation of religious feeling and of the practices this feeling imposes. It can even affect the worship we offer the true God, e.g., when one attributes an importance in some way magical to certain practices otherwise lawful or necessary. To attribute the efficacy of prayers or of sacramental signs to their mere external performance, apart from the interior dispositions that they demand is to fall into superstition. Cf. Matthew 23:16–22 (para. #2111)
Miracles are not the same thing as superstitions. I crossed out contagious homosexuality because that isn't a miracle, nor even a real argument from religion.
Superstition and magic are sinful, so we will conveniently stop identifying our superstitious and magical beliefs as such.
Yeah I guess if one goes by a simple definition one picks up from an online dictionary; but although if one bothers to digg a little deeper there is a distinction between the two. For one thing, superstition is irrational by nature, wheras miracles are not. Much of the teachings on miracles within Catholicism at least is a rational-based inquiry onto why certain extraordinary events occur - like the Virgin Birth. Tertullian made the famous statement about miracles like the Virgin Birth being true because they are extraordinary, and it's arguable he was operating within Aristotlian logic when making this claim. Furthermore, intense investigations are often made concerning miracles in order to verify their validity or "worthiness of faith" as we call it.Superstition is a belief in supernatural causality: that one event leads to the cause of another without any process in the physical world linking the two events.
Miracles are, by definition, superstition
I know adherents believe in superstitions, the point is they are not part of the those religion's official teachings; AND there is a distinct difference between miracles and superstitions. One more distinction I could make is that superstitons often involve magic, whilst miracles do not - they come from divine power.Peguy, I understand that Roman Catholics do not believe in EVERY superstition known to man, but there are a large number of superstitions rampant throughout the Abrahamic religions (including Catholocism)
I know adherents believe in superstitions, the point is they are not part of the those religion's official teachings; AND there is a distinct difference between miracles and superstitions. One more distinction I could make is that superstitons often involve magic, whilst miracles do not - they come from divine power.
Here's an extensive analysis that touches upon the matter:What are the key differences between magic and divine power?