We are a superstitious people, we Jamaicans. And we must have more Christian churches per square mile than any other country in the world. But I am always surprised at how many people who profess Christianity are at the same time deeply superstitious.

Sometimes, I wonder whether people can tell the difference between Christianity and superstition, and sometimes I'm sure many people confuse the two.

But I suppose that one man's superstition is another man's religion. And much that passes for religion is really superstition.

Take horoscopes, for example. The basic premise with horoscopes is that your future (and therefore your present, since today was yesterday's future) is written in the stars. Everyone can determine under which sign of the zodiac they are born according to their birthday, and they can receive important guidance for any particular day by consulting their horoscope.

And the mass media assist the public with these superstitions, for you can turn to almost any newspaper (including this one) and read your daily horoscope, and there is at least one radio station which has been broadcasting daily horoscopes (Sunday included) for as long as I can remember.

For example, if someone was born on March 12 (it does not matter which year) their fate is governed by the group of stars known as Pisces.

Characteristics

According to this set of superstitions, Pisces people are "imaginative and sensitive, compassionate and kind, selfless and unworldly, intuitive and sympathetic"; and on the dark side, are "escapist and idealistic, secretive and vague, weak-willed and easily led".

According to the superstition, Pisces people are compatible with persons born under the constellations Cancer and Scorpio. And it goes on and on.

Of course, everyone is free to believe what they want to believe, and I will fight to defend this freedom. But I don't have to agree with what they believe, or say nice things about it.

If you believe in horoscopes and astrology then you are not in control of your own life and your future; that is already determined by the stars. Even your personality is determined, and the sort of person you should partner with is determined. You really cannot work hard to be anything you want to be, because what you can be is limited by the possibilities for Pisces people.

This sort of belief is geared to control people, to keep them docile, to keep them in line. This kind of thinking is a form of mental slavery.

And it is completely incompatible with Christianity. Nowhere in the Bible or Christian theology can we find this kind of belief or doctrine, but that hasn't prevented tens of thousands of church people from following this sort of rubbish, and wearing charm bracelets and pendants with their astrological signs.

Anti-Christian belief

Indeed, I would argue that this sort of belief is anti-Christian. If believers in Jesus also believed in horoscopes then they would have to believe that God did not make us individually - a unique work of art - but made us in lumps to be similar according to our birthdays.

What a devaluation! If I have been made "weak-willed and easily led", then how can I be held responsible for my sin, or if I am bamboozled by one politician or another. And I really can't work to build my character, to improve myself with the help of God's grace. My future is already determined.

In this season of Lent, each of us should be examining ourselves to root out of our being anything which smacks of idolatry or superstition (a breach of the First Commandment).

Lent is a time of self-examination and repentance, of deepening our conversion and our closeness to our Lord. We are in charge of our lives, and we can decide to change ourselves and be the sort of person we want to be.

It is when we cease to depend upon the Lord and his goodness that we begin to wonder about the future, and turn to soothsayers and fortune tellers and prophets to give us confidence enough to go on. Depending on astrologers and horoscopes and tea-leaf readers is a type of faithlessness and disbelief.

When people ask me, 'What sign are you born under?', I inevitably answer, 'The Sign of the Cross!'

That is where my faith is, and that is where my hope is.