Comment 26 by Quine :

calvanchan, I appreciate the difficulty of your situation. However, I suggest you ask your associates the simple question, "When is it a proper time to trade in superstition for reason?"

I don't think it's a problem with superstition, but more of a problem with parochialism and chauvinism. People seem to feel obliged to be proud of whatever thing into which they happen to be born. I suspect that they know what they are doing is ridiculous and they are a bit dishonest with themselves. For instance, some Chinese people choose traditional medicine over Western ones mainly on the grounds that they are "authentically Chinese" and that "we are a proud civilization with sophisticated medical procedures too". But they only do that when they have coughs and fevers. When they need a heart surgery, they will be cramming in Western hospitals because they know, deep down even though they won't admit it, that Western science is rather special in that it actually works.