There are 3 possible ways of attempting to achieve one's goals:
Only one of them works. That's why it is my favorite.
And I'll go as far as to say that I consider the other two utterly worthless, and harmful.
I have no patience for dealing with any of it in my life
Unfortunately, the vast majority of the people who ever lived, and who live today, put a lot of faith in magic, religion, or both. They are dangerous because of their numbers, that's why the rational thing to do around them is to be diplomatic and imitate respect. Avoid any sensitive topics. That's what I do.
Another totally rational thing I do is I avoid those people when I can. They are harmful people, and to avoid being harmed I get out of their way.
The harm comes mostly from sacrificing things of real value for imaginary benefits. They do it themselves, and they want you to do it too. Sometimes it's your things that they will try to sacrifice. The "things" include, but are not limited to:
They are fooled by randomness. The world is too complex to reliably predict minute events. We aren't able to know all causes, and we can't consider them all quickly enough. So from a practical point of view, to the senses of humans, a lot of what happens seems random.
Randomness can be uncomfortable, especially when one cares strongly about the outcome. Most people are weak. They can not tolerate not knowing.
But that is exactly the virtue this page is about. It's closely related to preferring strength over comfort. In the same way, a rational person must prefer saying "I don't know (yet)" instead of claiming (even if they believe it) to know what they don't; instead of letting themselves be persuaded by bullshit peddlers, and convinced to make idiotic sacrifices.
Both types of magic reflect a primitive understanding of causality, where symbolic actions and connections are believed to have real-world effects.
This primitive understanding is wrong
Sympathetic magic, also known as homeopathic magic, is based on the principle of "like produces like." This type of magic assumes that things which resemble each other are connected, and that by acting on one, you can affect the other.
One of the most striking examples of sympathetic magic is the practice of creating an effigy or image of an enemy and then harming it to inflict damage on the actual person.
Contagious magic operates on the belief that things which have once been in contact continue to influence each other even after separation. This type of magic assumes a permanent connection between a person and any part of their body or possessions.
These two principles are entirely sufficient to explain all the superstitions and all examples of flawed magical thinking which ever existed. And far from all of them have been abandoned even in modern, presumably civilized societies. The most obvious case is astrology. Bonus case: the "law" of attraction, as popularized by "The Secret" movie.
While above were some proactive applications of magic, the other much more prevalent way magic is "practiced" is the passive way. I.e. there are things one must not do, or else, according to these magical beliefs, harm is sure to follow.
Examples:
All the religious prohibitions which do not make sense follow the same magical logic! They were likely directly inherited from the times when magic dominated cultures
Oh, wanna have some pork?
Because the expected outcome does happen some of the time. It has to! A broken clock is correct twice a day.
And all the (numerous) times it doesn't happen can be explained away. Either "you did not do the magic correctly, so it's your fault", or "somebody else did magic too, and theirs was stronger".
That, by the way, is another reason magical thinkers can be extremely dangerous. They'll accuse innocent people (possibly you) of practicing offensive magic, and will "retaliate" against you by worldly means. If they convince enough other wackos, they might band together and execute you
Eventually, after sufficient general disappointment accumulates in a given society as a result of seeing magic fail over and over, magic tends to lose its prominent spot in people's minds. And steps aside to make way for...
And the only way religion is different is that the performance of magic is outsourced. It's no longer humans that are magicians, but there are invisible being(s) who possess such powers.
And instead of directly casting spells, religiously minded people negotiate with the supernatural beings. Religious practicioners believe they can gain the favor of those beings by satisfying them. And if they have their favor, good things will happen. The things they ask for are all of the same things which the magically minded people asked for before.
And when the desired outcome fails to happen (or its opposite happens), the explanation is immediately obvious: the being was not pleased!
Perhaps sacrificing somebody can help... It's this person who reads too much, it's all their fault! I know it!