Real consequences to unreal beliefs

Belief in the supernatural have real consequences. And contrary to the ideas of the “spiritual” among us such beliefs are often very damaging. Faking reality does not have good consequences.

Here is one example. In Sischuan province a group of students were leaving their classrooms into a dark hallway. A stairway lead down. As the children were just leaving their classrooms someone yelled “ghost” and other students started screaming that “ghosts are coming.”

Apparently these students believed ghosts are real. The children screamed and ran. As they approached the stairway one of the students stumbled and others tripped over him. A stampede happened because these students thought that ghosts were real. The result was that 45 students were injured and 8 were killed.