the "disbelief is a belief" question again

[sophiaserpentia]

Does it take faith to disbelieve that breaking a mirror is bad luck? What about not believing that a black cat crossing your path is bad luck?

If not, how is this different from the same question applied to God?

If yes, what distinguishes a "valid" superstition like the ones listed above from "invalid" ones like the Flying Spaghetti Monster? What about supersititions from other cultures, like the belief that taking a picture steals your soul?

Is the difference that people in this culture were exposed since early childhood to believe in the superstitions listed above?

Comments

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

This is a great analysis of the situation, thank you. It does require a positive expenditure of energy to defend a lack of belief in something against repeated assertion of it. I'm not sure that constitutes any sort of "faith," but it is a very real expenditure.