Magical thinking is associating events that do not otherwise have an association. In many cases, those of us with OCD notice the association of relief from anxiety when one
performs a compulsion. Our compulsions usually have nothing to do with reality, but since the association exists in our brains, this too becomes an error of thinking that can become automatic.
Examples include:
- Avoiding cracks in the pavement
- having good luck or bad luck numbers/charms/gestures
- ordering/arranging objects or gesturing/praying with the expectation of an event not happening or believing something bad will happen if the task is not completed despite them being unrelated.
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The Scrupulous Atheist 
I don’t think I have OCD but I am more than a little obsessive, and still catch myself walking on the odd-coloured tiles, for example, or avoiding the cracks between them. Plus I prayed every night for years after I stopped believing in god.
OCD and ritualistic behavior go together a lot.
What I find interesting about OCD is that animals have it too. In animals OCD shows up as excessive grooming. Psychologists have made the connection in humans that we may have similar sub-routines so it makes “sense” that even after one is an atheist, ritualistic prayer may still be part of one’s life