English philosopher and theologian G.K. Chesterton is attributed the quote "When a man stops believing in God, he doesn't then believe in nothing, but in anything."
Many of us would paint ourselves as secular, as unaffiliated with a major world religion (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), or any other religion (perhaps Buddhism or Shintoism?). We believe in science. We believe that society has developed to the extent that the scientific developments of the previous 300 years have forever cast off the hold religion once had on us. We are not so gullible to believe in a floating man in the sky, watching and judging us. But are we really as secular and free from religious tendencies as we proclaim?
How many of you have ever knocked on wood to ward off bad luck? This is said to originate from Germanic folklore, in which benevolent and evil spirits live in wood. Our knocks are meant to call the attention of the benevolent ones and distract the evil ones. How many of you read astrology signs or knows someone else who does? Spilled any salt recently? Or broken any glass? Or went out of your way to avoid walking under a ladder? How many of you have ever stubbed your toes on furniture, and immediately felt a sense of rage at the couch or chair? As if the couch or chair intentionally placed themselves there just to trip you? As if there were spirits, good or bad, in these pieces of furniture?
We are not so secular as we seem. There exists something in the human heart and mind that pulls us to believing in a higher power. We can try to distance ourselves from religion, but religion will not leave us.