IT’S ONLY SUPERSTITION

“Superstitious L.A.” treats all non-scientific positions, or more correctly all beliefs having to do with non-material causality, as superstitious. In the course of the article, one expects the word science to be capitalized. This is only in keeping with our prejudice in favor of a sort of 18th-Century rationalism. It is surely one role of journalism to illuminate, not obscure, the differences between beliefs. Hence, my disappointment at seeing the sign of the cross put on the same level with not changing your underwear for luck. The latter finds no rational support (except perhaps in the change of mood that might accompany it), while the former has two millenia of rational argument in its favor. What is singularly irrational is the refusal to consider anything not “scientific” as reasonable or defensible. R. GLEN COUGHLIN

Santa Paula