# Atheists: What superstitions do you still practice? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 7, 2012, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767 "2012-08-07T18:37:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Brynda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Brynda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynda)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767/61 "2012-08-12T15:55:24Z")
I have friends who do the whole “don’t jinx it” thing, and it drives me crazy. You can’t say anything positive without hearing something about jinxing. > [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > Yeah, I’m curious too. I don’t understand the rolleyes. Glad I am not the only one. Waiting to have my ignorance fought… ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767/62 "2012-08-12T16:19:06Z")
> [@Brynda](#): > > Yep. Looked to me like he was just agreeing with you and saying “oh, cool, I do that too!” Didn’t see any meritlessness OR retort. What are you seeing that I missed? Because what \*\*Enkel \*\*posted is just normal behavior that all people should do, nothing to do with superstition. He either thought \*\*stpauler \*\*was joking that he doesn’t like to sit in a wheelchair, or was poking fun at him, i.e. “You don’t sit in wheelchairs? Well I don’t park in handicapped spaces! I even put things back where they belong! How superstitious of me!” ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767/63 "2012-08-12T16:20:41Z")
Always knock wood when stating a hypothetical that would be exceptionally bad. When making a toast I never put my glass down without drinking. If invited to a birthday party I have to eat some of the birthday cake even if it’s a tiny smidgen no bigger than my fingernail; to not do so is bad luck for the birthday boy/girl. And DON’T JINX IT. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767/64 "2012-08-12T18:32:23Z")
Boy, we sure are lucky\*\*\* Starvin’ Artist\*\*\* hasn’t popped into this thread to defend Joe Paterno… ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767/65 "2012-08-12T19:41:37Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Because what \*\*Enkel \*\*posted is just normal behavior that all people should do, nothing to do with superstition. He either thought \*\*stpauler \*\*was joking that he doesn’t like to sit in a wheelchair, or was poking fun at him, i.e. “You don’t sit in wheelchairs? Well I don’t park in handicapped spaces! I even put things back where they belong! How superstitious of me!” Oh! Ok. I get that. I thought Enkel meant, “Yeah, I think that able-bodied people who park in handicap spots are also tempting fate that they may end up disabled.” ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767/66 "2012-08-12T20:01:23Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > Oh! Ok. I get that. I thought Enkel meant, “Yeah, I think that able-bodied people who park in handicap spots are also tempting fate that they may end up disabled.” That’s how I took it too. ---
**Author:** ![Docta\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Docta\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Docta_G)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767/67 "2012-08-12T20:10:01Z")
None. I don’t even accord concepts their own intrinsic rationality–an idea that is itself a vestige of religious thinking. Concepts constitue a scaffolding on the world that allows us to navigate it successfully, according to standards of success that are ours and ours alone. ---
**Author:** ![Brynda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Brynda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynda)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767/68 "2012-08-12T20:26:02Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > Oh! Ok. I get that. I thought Enkel meant, “Yeah, I think that able-bodied people who park in handicap spots are also tempting fate that they may end up disabled.” Yeah, I took it that way, too. Certainly, lots of us use the handicapped stall. ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767/69 "2012-08-12T20:47:51Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Sorry- central and most significant Jewish prayer: > > Hear O Israel, the lord our G-D the lord is one. > > Sh’ma Yisrael, Adonai eluhanu, Adonai echad. (echad is Hebrew for ‘one’). > It’s what proclaimed Judaism as a monotheism back in the day. Ignorance fought! Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Nature\_s\_Call](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nature_s_call/32/19006_2.png) [@Nature\_s\_Call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nature_s_Call)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767/70 "2012-08-12T21:28:20Z")
I just became aware of another superstition/ritual. After using the \ facilities, I spray making the sign of the cross. I don’t remember why/when I started doing that. This exorcism ritual does at least diminish the effectiveness of that particular class of demon. ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767/71 "2012-08-12T21:36:51Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > I don’t think embalming and burying is superstitious. Burying is one of the few sanitary things you can do with a corpse. I guess you could mulch it and feed it to the animals or use it as fertilizer or people food. I guess you could argue not doing one of those things is superstitious, but I’m not entirely sure. > > Embalming preserves the corpse until burial can occur, it’s, again, more sanitary than having it rot before burial. > > In addition, in the long term it could be useful to future archaeologists to have at least **some** buried remains. **Book recommendation: _The American Way of Death_ by Jessica Mitford** ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767/72 "2012-08-12T21:40:51Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > It probably would be fine to just throw it in a hole and cover it up, though I’ve heard that some bad gasses escape from graves dug that way occasionally. Honestly in the long run you’re probably right, cremation would likely be better for the environment. We’d need less land for grave real estate, less wood for coffins, etc. It’s probably rooted in superstition, but it’s a bit difficult to tell where the line between superstition and tradition is. The line that matters in all that is profit. For the funeral industry. It’s why Americans do practically every thing they do related to after-death practices. ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767/73 "2012-08-12T22:00:33Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > I go along with traditions. Although there are many more, I can think of only two at the moment : > > -Don’t cross arms with someone else while clinking glasses. > > -**Don’t give/ accept a knife as a present without giving back a symbolic amount of money (making it a sale rather than a gift).** > \*\* > > Also, you won’t get me to enter a cemetery at night (or do similar things).\*\* I am always giving knives as gifts and everybody says, “Oh, you’re not supposed to give a knife!” I never remember though, and sail blithely on to the next event with some spiffy cutlery tied up in a perky bow. As for going in cemeteries, this has come up a lot for me recently. My dog is very reactive so I figured out that the best place to walk him is in the cemetery in the middle of the night. This is a big, old (1700s on), spooky cemetery, unlit and often covered in mist. It’s perfect. But no one I know will ever go with us. Atheist friends say, Oh, I know, it shouldn’t matter but I’m too afraid. What could they possibly be afraid of?? Now that to me is superstitious throw-back. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767/74 "2012-08-12T22:29:58Z")
> [@tapu](#): > > I am always giving knives as gifts and everybody says, “Oh, you’re not supposed to give a knife!” I never remember though, and sail blithely on to the next event with some spiffy cutlery tied up in a perky bow. > > As for going in cemeteries, this has come up a lot for me recently. My dog is very reactive so I figured out that the best place to walk him is in the cemetery in the middle of the night. > > This is a big, old (1700s on), spooky cemetery, unlit and often covered in mist. It’s perfect. > > But no one I know will ever go with us. Atheist friends say, Oh, I know, it shouldn’t matter but I’m too afraid. What could they possibly be afraid of?? Now that to me is superstitious throw-back. Zombies! Your freinds are wisely avoiding a potential source for zombies ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767/75 "2012-08-13T06:04:32Z")
> [@tapu](#): > > This is a big, old (1700s on), spooky cemetery, unlit and often covered in mist. It’s perfect. > > But no one I know will ever go with us. Atheist friends say, Oh, I know, it shouldn’t matter but I’m too afraid. What could they possibly be afraid of?? Now that to me is superstitious throw-back. Yes, you’re right. My reason for not giving a knife without getting a symbolic coin in exchange (or similar stuff, just remembered another one : tossing the first crepe on fat tuesday with a gold coin in hand for wealth, or jumping over St John’s fire) is really that I enjoy sticking with traditions and keeping them alive, not that I think anything bad (or good) will happen. On the other hand, my fear of entering a cemetary is real and definitely superstition. ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767/76 "2012-08-13T14:14:28Z")
Is it fear of live people or dead people (or something else) that keeps non-superstitious people away from cemeteries? ---
**Author:** ![Enkel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767/77 "2012-08-14T18:21:37Z")
> [@Brynda](#): > > Yeah, I took it that way, too. Certainly, lots of us use the handicapped stall. It’s fine if people want to say that avoiding handicap reserved features (parking space, toilets, etc) is not a superstition. I have no problem with that. I avoid them because I feel like it will bring on bad circumstances in my life and there isn’t any proven cause/effect, only a belief behind it. For me it is a bit like a phobia in the sense that I just won’t do it (and, yes I’ve had spats with people who say ‘Just use that stall, why are you waiting? We’re in a hurry!’) I saw the eyeroll and it didn’t bother me. I just quit reading the thread. I’ve returned because someone pm’d to ask for a clarification on my statement and it took me a couple days to notice the message thingy. So to be clear, you can call it what ever you like. If the post offends, then you can even have it removed. It won’t hurt my feelings because it is just a quirk in my personality and I don’t feel a need to defend it. I apologize for any confusion. ---
**Author:** ![Enkel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767/78 "2012-08-14T18:36:56Z")
> [@tapu](#): > > Is it fear of live people or dead people (or something else) that keeps non-superstitious people away from cemeteries? In this day and age, it’s probably the effect of horror movies that portray strange things happening in cemeteries. I saw Carrie as a kid and you can’t help but remember the last scene when walking around graves. As a kid, I also saw a movie about a car that attacked people. To this day, I’m nervous anytime I’m in front of or behind a vehicle. It doesn’t help that I’ve had trouble with my truck’s transmission and it did slip out of park and pin me to a gate one time. But for me, these are not superstitions, simply bad associations. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767/79 "2012-08-14T18:50:34Z")
> [@tapu](#): > > Is it fear of live people or dead people (or something else) that keeps non-superstitious people away from cemeteries? Creeeepy Compost Pile. ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767/80 "2012-08-14T20:54:56Z")
I go to church. OK, not very often. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-superstitions-do-you-still-practice/630767.md?page=5)