Does religion help? Not necessarily. Religion may in fact fuel irrational beliefs. In this respect no religion is exempt. Some of the most basic beliefs of most religions can be classified as superstitions if the test of common sense and evidence is applied. The superstitions were taken for granted and none was dare enough to question them.
Perhaps there is an unshaken belief in miraculous cures, magical remedies and supernatural phenomena which might have persuaded to remain superstitious even in this age of reason and scientific progress. As such there is a section of the society which manipulates the minds of the gullible to their advantage and amass wealth and power exhibiting so called miracles and supernatural feats under the garb of divine blessings. These Godmen, Babas, Buvas, Matajis and Maharajas are main transporters of superstitions and have got their stronghold on Maharashtrian society. Educated and elite class also supports these godmen to protect their vested interests. This class has completely twisted the meaning of superstition (Andhshraddha) under the name of faith (shraddha).
One person's faith is a superstition for another and what a third person considers to be a superstition is a very strong faith, almost a question of life and death for a fourth one. The faith that does not allow to be questioned on the basis of facts or truth is superstition. Whether faith is superstition or not can be assessed by using following four criteria:
Verify the facts or the truth. When faith is used in everyday affairs, it generally means religious faith, faith in the other world or in the liberation of soul from the cycle of birth and death. While verifying the facts should not be based upon the testimony of words of some individual, or the testimony of the person or testimony of the book.
Ascertain whether faith adheres to non-violence principle. In any society people have diverse faiths. They all should be allowed to preach and propagate their faiths as long as they confine their activities within bounds of propriety. It is tolerance that is rooted in non-violence.
Fear and lure should not weaken the determination to adhere to faith. It should be dynamic.
Faith sublimates value judgment while superstition debases it. Faith should be replaced with loyalty towards human values, moral principles and ethical behaviour.
Since superstitions do not allow people to think and act rationally, irrational behaviour leads to heavy losses in terms of money, health, peace of mind and sometimes life also. The superstitious activities harm the environment. It leads to intolerance and violence which disturbs the law and order situation in the society. The strong belief in alternate therapies like psychic healers, faith healers, acupuncturists, homeopaths etc my ruin someone's health beyond cure. People still believe in miraculous cures offered by witchdoctors and faith healers (mostly babas and buvas) even though science and modern medicine has gone into depth about prognosis, diagnosis and cure of most of the diseases.
How then can we eradicate superstition? As Einstein endorses" Over thousands of years of evolution, everything has changed except the way we think " . There seems to be something in the human condition, in the thought process that makes us surrender to superstitions and to believe in the unbelievable. The primordial emotions of man have remained the same over millennia—fear, greed, hatred, envy, anger, desire. Every religion asks us to conquer these but to no avail. No Prophet, saint or holy man or woman has made much of a difference to humanity at large in our conquest of these negative emotions.
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