In some perspectives the belief in a God is being superstitious. By definition being superstitious is creating a false certainty instead of being left with none which is what most scientists would explain for the existence of religion, just an explanation for the way things are as well as a sense of security for people.
When first introduced to Christopher Boone in the novel, “The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Nighttime” his dismissive attitude towards religion seems to be nothing more than the common atheist expressing their belief that the idea of a God is a ridiculous one and nothing other than fictional, but as the story continues Christopher presents himself as being extremely superstitious and is oblivious to the true meaning behind his odd beliefs.
Throughout the book, Christopher Boone reveals himself as a logical, mathematically gifted fifteen-year-old who has extreme likes and dislikes.
Christopher immediately demonstrates his need for order and structure, eating only foods that aren’t yellow or brown and making time tables of each of his days.
He desires control and reasoning for everything making sure he understands why things are the way they are. One of Christopher’s acute dislikes is religion. When told his mother is dead he doesn’t believe she’s going to Heaven, dismissing the idea of any place like it because it violates everything he knows about space. He ridicules people who have faith in religion deeming them irrational.
Christopher makes it apparent that he is extremely superstitious though. On the ride to school every morning he determines what kind of day it’s going to be according to how many cars he sees of a certain color, yellow being bad and red being good.
If he sees numerous yellow cars in a row he thinks it’s going to be a very bad day giving him reason to act out at school and all day throughout the day, nothing disconcerting his attitude. In that case nothing can change Christopher’s belief towards the predicted outcome no matter how ridiculous it might seem to someone without asperger’s.
According to psychology the driving force behind being superstitions is craving more control, which is exactly part of who Christopher is, as well as a yearning for an explanation for things, basically the reason for the existence of religion. In one incident, at the end of chapter 139, Christopher tells of a Cottingley fairies hoax in which people are convinced that faeries truly do exist after viewing a photo of the nymphs. He harshly criticizes them calling all the believers illogical and explaining that they couldn’t see through the hoax only because they wanted to believe that faeries exist when in fact they don’t.
The chapter right after though depicts Christopher going against his own belief when he makes excuses for multiple letters he discovers. After his father takes away his book, at the time he is writing, Christopher goes on the search for it and discovers the unfinished book in his father’s bedroom, the only place he assumes Mr. Boone would hide it, along with multiple letters addressed to a Christopher Boone. He automatically rejects the possibility that they are intended for him despite the accurate street address along with his name.
Christopher acts just as the people in the Cottingley fairies hoax did, making excuses, convincing himself and ignoring the obvious explanation accepting only what he wants to believe regardless, the same way he claims religious people act. Without a doubt, Christopher simply proved himself to be overall a hypocrite throughout his narration of the story. It’s a character trait not even he is aware of and his righteous attitude towards his own outrageous beliefs is blasphemous.
He contradicts himself throughout the book after declaring to be an extremely logical person but also being superstitious and at times delusion. Whether which belief, faith in the existence of a God or believing that 3 red cars in a row means it’s going to be a good day, is more ridiculous, the first in Christopher’s opinion being the more unreasonable, can be settled by the two understandably being considered equal. Regardless of Christopher’s disability he is still a hypocrite, the same way most normal people are.
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