Distinguish between facts, superstition

Before the Enlightenment Period, the most educated gentlemen in England believed that evil spirits inhabited the forest and people widely believed that God was punishing them for their sins when he inflicted the plague in Europe. Today, thanks to science and exploration, we know these to be nothing more than superstitions so ingrained in the culture of the times that they were elevated to the position of fact. Today, we would label anyone who believed these superstitions "fools." Thankfully, science has released us from the bonds of many but not all superstitions.

The "evil spirits" which used to live in the forest have become the "Spanish-speaking people" who live south of our border. Others hold outrageous beliefs or superstitions about the perils of immunizations and put the rest of us at serious risk. Still others reject the science of the relationship between pollution and global warming and replace it with the superstition of "it ain't so" and put all of us at peril.

We are all vulnerable to superstitious beliefs, some are fun and harmless, others are extremely dangerous and important. It is, therefore, important for each of us to examine ourselves. is there any evidence to support my belief or is it a superstition? How you answer this affects how you vote.

Wisdom is buried in facts, not superstitious beliefs.

John S. Strauss

Campton Hills