myth vs religion!!!!!

[yuriythebest]

right, I was reading "religion explained" and there was a reference to the ancient (was it norse?) myth about thor and his magic hammer and how that created lighting. that got me thinking - instead of giving all this verbal authority to theistic beliefs by calling em "the Buddhist tradition" , "the biblical accounts", "the Jewish religion", it's much more "sterile" to say stuff like:

"in the christian mythology, christ died for our sins"
"according to Islamic mythology, Mohamed was the prophet of a god called Allah"
"in the Buddhist mythology, Buddha was a prince who became enlightened"

consciousness raising I tell ya

and this is not "insulting", indeed according to thefreedictionary.com

myth (mth)
1.
a. A traditional, typically ancient story dealing with supernatural beings, ancestors, or heroes that serves as a fundamental type in the worldview of a people, as by explaining aspects of the natural world or delineating the psychology, customs, or ideals of society: the myth of Eros and Psyche; a creation myth.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/myth

god I feel so atheistic right now...

[Shinylight]

Basically this thread is 'Myth vs Myth'

[yuriythebest]

Basically this thread is 'Myth vs Myth'

it's about language use/ consciousness raising. to not use authoritative words that give theism power like "tradition","faith","account", "religion", etc etc instead to use "myth", "mythology", etc
that way, especially if you are talking to theists you are not giving the other side the aura of credulity

[downbeatplumb]

Basically this thread is 'Myth vs Myth'

it's about language use/ consciousness raising. to not use authoritative words that give theism power like "tradition","faith","account", "religion", etc etc instead to use "myth", "mythology", etc
that way, especially if you are talking to theists you are not giving the other side the aura of credulity

I prefer to use "fairy tale" when tailking about the religious stories, they do the same job and contain the same amount of "fact".

[Shinylight]

No you're right, people shouldn't treat them as true.

[Edwardo Piet]

"Religion" is synonymous with "myth" to me.

[yuriythebest]

"Religion" is synonymous with "myth" to me.

to you yes, sure. however when talking with laypeople or theists they sometimes may have a different opinion of how "religion deserves respect and should not be criticized yadda yadda" and calling stuff, say, in the bible "mythology" reframes it.

[Watson]

Sure, go ahead.

[chatpilot]

There is no myth vs. religion since religion is myth.

[LastPoet]

I think Myths are the origin and death of religions. A myth can turn either to legend or to religion, they are both still myths in this regard.