(September 13, 2014 at 4:13 pm)onebluethinker Wrote: That's also true. However there are all these superstitious customs such as not stepping on books and stepping out the door with your right foot first and saying "I will go and come back" whenever you leave the house, and I'm not sure if it was just my parents that had them or what.
The stepping on books part is real enough, but it is more of a cultural thing than a rigorous religious tenet. Within a cultural context, your head is considered "higher" or "pure" because that is where your knowledge and ideas lie. Your feet are considered "lower" or "impure" because you walk around and track dirt with it. So, touching something with your forehead is regarded as a sign of respect and touching it with your feet is regarded as a sign of derision. Its a harmless cultural courtesy that finds expression in many different ways: pay respect to elders by touching their feet, wish someone well by touching their forehead, apologize if you accidentally step on someone, remove footwear before entering a house or a place of worship and, yes, don't step on books because they represent knowledge and knowledge should be revered.
The other two, I've never heard of.
In relation to your problem, if you can show your mother that despite your beliefs you can still uphold certain values of your cultural heritage - the ones that make sense to you, anyway - then I believe she would be more accepting of your atheism.
