The Science of Superstition

by Bruce M. Hood

Rituals produce a sense of control, or at least the belief that we have control even when we don’t.

Is it religion, or does religion simply recognize and fulfill that urge in the human psyche

man's natural disposition: The Fitrah

Scientists reject beliefs until they are proven beyond reasonable doubt. In contrast, supernaturalists accept beliefs until they are disproven beyond reasonable doubt. The problem is that it is impossible to disprove anything.

All human knowledge begins with intuitions, proceeds thence to concepts, and ends with ideas. —IMMANUEL KANT,

For example, children raised in a secular environment may express fewer afterlife beliefs than children raised in a religious household, but they still retain notions of some form of mental life that survives death.42