In Khandahar, Afghanistan, the guardians of a holy relic face a tough decision.Since 1768, the Akhundzada family has been tasked with guarding the Cloak of Mohammed, supposedly woven for and worn by the final prophet of Islam. According to Muslim legend, the cloak is imbued with mystical powers of healing.The cloak’s guardians have kept it locked away from prying eyes, and it is only removed for extremely special occasions. The cloak is brought out during times of crisis and used in public ceremonies.Those who believe in its powers claim the cloak has healed the sick, halted a cholera outbreak and quenched a drought, among other miracles.The recent violence in Afghanistan has caused a great dilemma for the Akhundzadas. It seems their country could use a miracle right now.But bringing out the cloak is an especially risky proposition, given the current environment.The guardians are especially hesitant to allow the cloak to even be viewed, because of a stunt in which it was stolen by a Taliban leader.In 1996, Mullah Omar, then head of the Taliban, visited the shrine and requested to see the garment. After repeatedly being denied by the guardians — and acquiescing to their demands that he shave his entire body — he was finally allowed to view it.He proceeded to steal the cloak and wear it during an impassioned roof-top speech claiming he was rightfully ordained by Allah.Since this incident, the keepers of the cloak have put the shrine on lockdown; even the new President Hamid Karzai, who has visited the shrine five times, has never had the privilege of viewing the cloak.Mullah Masood Akhundazada, the current head guardian, acknowledges now is the time to call upon the powers of the sacred garment. “But, for now, threats of violence — Mullah assumed the role after his brother was gunned down in a marketplace during a wave of prominent citizens being murdered — have impelled the keepers to keep the cloak under lock and key.Meanwhile, across the world, a less-conventional relic is facing a far less dangerous conundrum.The Shrine of the Miracle Tortilla in Lake Arthur, New Mexico, is much more open about its miraculous “artifact.”The now-famous food of faith belongs to Maria Rubio, who preserved a tortilla after God supposedly sent her a message in the form of skillet burns on the tortilla that form a picture of Jesus.After the revelation, she put the miraculous tortilla on display in a small wooden shed, complete with cotton balls to simulate heaven.Rubio is by no means the only one who believes the tortilla is a sign from God. An estimated 35,000 people shuffled onto her property, either because they believed it contained healing powers or out of sheer awe.In stark contrast to her Khandahari contemporaries, Rubio left the door to the shed unlocked, to ensure no one was denied a chance to see a real culinary miracle.Tragically, the Shrine no longer exists. After years in the New Mexico heat, the fragile tortilla was broken when Rubio’s granddaughter brought it to school for show-and-tell.Throughout history, religious relics have proven to be a fascinatingly powerful phenomenon. That significance is no less potent today, in the age of heavily-guarded cloaks and Tortilla Jesuses. The stunning success of “The Da Vinci Code” — a novel that uses semi-historical references and refers to relics and orders that likely never existed — is a testament to just how powerful a relic can be.On the surface, this seems like an easy opening to assault religion as the realm of either the irrational or the clinically insane.But let’s not forget religious relics aren’t the only superstitious  symbols that attract cult followings. Purportedly haunted houses across the nation draw huge crowds of sight-seers, despite an alarming lack of evidence for their ectoplasmic inhabitants. For some local flavor, visit the Myrtles just outside of Baton Rouge.Area 51 is still the focus of an alien conspiracy theory so popular it has gained more followers than many religions. For anyone who’s been to the town of Roswell, you know what a tourist draw this phenomenon is.It is one of the most fundamental truths of human behavior that we as a race are drawn to legends. From Beowulf to Indiana Jones, we are enthralled by stories of ancient treasures and miraculous signs.When you add the passionate fervor and faith of religion to our natural curiosity, you have a recipe for some really interesting stuff.And there’s nothing wrong with chuckling when that stuff seems a tad absurd.–Contact Matthew Albright at [email protected]