Mythology vs. Christianity

[melik]

I'm sure that I'm opening a big can of worms. But...I wanted to get your opinion. I have to admit I haven't really thought this out. So please forgive me if my thoughts seem scattered.

 

Since I read "The Well Trained Mind", I have really been thinking that I will use it's suggestions because it really seems to make sense to me. As I was really looking at next years(1st grade) curriculum I was concerned.....wondering.....pondering.....I'm not sure the right word for my feelings but just thinking that as a Christian I'm not sure I really love the idea of filling my kids with all of that mythology. I love the idea of the classics and a really well rounded education. I know that mythology is a part of that. I'm just concerned that at such a young age and that most of the 1st grade reading suggestions were mythology based that it could cause some confusion in their little hearts about Christ and the bible.

 

So any Christian homeschoolers out there with more experience, or have given more thought to this subject?

 

Thanks,

Meli

[kdeno]

For our family, we wait until our children are a little older to teach them the specifics on mythology.

 

Kari

[melik]

Kari,

 

How much older?

 

Meli

[Mrs Mungo]

Personally, I have no problem with fantasy stories, to include mythology. If you have the Activity Guide for Story of the World take a look at it (or if you have First Language Lessons, it does the same thing). The review questions often ask things like "is this a true story or is it fiction?" and "how do we know this story is fiction?" For example, talking animals in a fable would alert most children that it was fiction.

[Ibbygirl]

I waited until my dd was older too (about 3rd grade) before I introduced it also. I still think you could use SOTW and just fast forward the ancients perhaps and cover it on the second cycle perhaps?

[TravelingChris]

None of my children ever had a problem distinguishing between our faith (CHristianity) and ancient mythology. Just like they had no problems distinguishing between the Lion King lion who talks and the lion in the zoo who roars.

[justamouse]

My kids never confused the two so it's a non issue.

[Caitilin]

My kids never confused the two so it's a non issue.

:iagree:

Ditto!

[BikeBookBread]

I agree with Mrs. Mungo...

 

Are you kids in Sunday School or are they learning standard Bible stories from you (especially OT)? Bible stories are filled with false gods such as Baal, the god that King Nebuchadnezzar built (fiery furnace story), Jonah and the Ninevites, etc. These stories are filled with gods that the Bible teaches to be false gods. How is teaching mythology any different than teaching our children that the gods of the Philistines, Egyptians, and so on are false gods?

 

Not all mythology is god-related, either. Some are just fantastical stories. Do you let your children hear fairy tales? What about Aesop's fables, which are filled with talking animals, etc.

 

I've actually thought about this quite a bit, and discussed it with some Christian friends who are choosing to put off the teaching of mythology, and some who have just ventured forward at an early age. I think you know your children best, and it's good that you are thinking about it now!

[ELaurie]

and I read Bible stories from the OT to ds 10, (then 7), while I was reading Egyptian, Greek and Roman myths to him in history. Doing so proved to be a very rich endeavor in our case; as we were reading about plagues in Egypt, the Exodus, and the ten commandments, he had a much better understanding of the prohibition against idolatry. When we read about warnings against inter-marriage with idolaters, he had a much better understanding of the context and the implications.

 

I didn't plan it this way at the time, but in retrospect, I found that reading the Bible and these ancient myths concurrently was very effective for us.

 

Others here have approached this differently, and I respect that too.

[NoPlaceLikeHome]

My kids never confused the two so it's a non issue.

 

:iagree::iagree:

[sheryl]

I'm sure that I'm opening a big can of worms. But...I wanted to get your opinion. I have to admit I haven't really thought this out. So please forgive me if my thoughts seem scattered.

 

Since I read "The Well Trained Mind", I have really been thinking that I will use it's suggestions because it really seems to make sense to me. As I was really looking at next years(1st grade) curriculum I was concerned.....wondering.....pondering.....I'm not sure the right word for my feelings but just thinking that as a Christian I'm not sure I really love the idea of filling my kids with all of that mythology. I love the idea of the classics and a really well rounded education. I know that mythology is a part of that. I'm just concerned that at such a young age and that most of the 1st grade reading suggestions were mythology based that it could cause some confusion in their little hearts about Christ and the bible.

 

 

Thanks,

Meli

 

Right on board with ya and haven't taught it for the same reasons. My dd is finishing 5th grade and at some point I'll mention the worldly/secular viewpoint and explain why her daddy and I don't agree with it (mythology). As far as "teaching" it....no, don't plan to. It is not "THE" truth.

 

So any Christian homeschoolers out there with more experience, or have given more thought to this subject?

[happyhomemaker25]

We introduce some of the more mythical sounding stories. We leave out others. Any story of creation other than the Bible or the flood.. that stuff we are saving for the logic stage. I just don't want them getting confused.

We will teach it, just as we teach evolution and other religions of the world. We want the kids to have knowledge of them, but we want them to be old enough to discern as well.

[coffeefreak]

None of my children ever had a problem distinguishing between our faith (CHristianity) and ancient mythology. Just like they had no problems distinguishing between the Lion King lion who talks and the lion in the zoo who roars.

 

:iagree:

I think Christians (including myself here) worry about this when it's nothing. We teach History Chronologically, we include the Biblical stories as historical fact, and yet we think our kids are going to believe Myths are real? They don't. Especially since we teach them as make believe. My dd said it best, "Mommy, I KNOW it's make believe. DUH! Does that make it wrong to read?" :lol:That's when I eased off. After all, we read fairy tales, why not mythology?

Blessings!

Dorinda

[Jugglin'5]

Right on board with ya and haven't taught it for the same reasons. My dd is finishing 5th grade and at some point I'll mention the worldly/secular viewpoint and explain why her daddy and I don't agree with it (mythology). As far as "teaching" it....no, don't plan to. It is not "THE" truth.

 

So any Christian homeschoolers out there with more experience, or have given more thought to this subject?

 

My kids have never confused them. You'll find that pagan gods and goddesses have very different personalities than the Christian God. Like a previous poster said, the Bible mentions pagan gods (Diana of the Ephesians? Dagon?) all the time. I don't worry about it.

 

Mythology is important to understanding Western culture and literature. It is very hard to follow Shakespeare, for instance, without knowing any Greek/Roman mythology.

[Mrs Mungo]

Mythology is important to understanding Western culture and literature. It is very hard to follow Shakespeare' date=' for instance, without knowing any Greek/Roman mythology.[/quote']

 

:iagree: In fact, I would say it's impossible to understand Shakespeare or large portions of literature without being culturally literate.

[RegGuheert]

I had similar questions about this as OP when MomsintheGarden was teaching the kids about Roman and Greek mythology. As others have said, it turns out it was a complete non-issue. In fact, I'm now convinced that our children have a much clearer and more complete understanding of world history than most people ever get. Certainly much better than the history education I received in PS, which isn't saying much!

[Nakia]

Sometimes I think we (in general) do not give our children enough credit. Most children are perfectly able to understand the difference between real and not real. We are studying the Greek gods now with MFW, and my first grader is joining right in and loving it. She definitely understands that Jesus is the real deal. But, of course, each family must decide how to handle this, just like everything else.

[jail warden]

My kids loved the stories. We treated them just like fairy tales at that time. Later we did find out that people still believe in them, but I didn't bring that up until a couple of years later when we were talking about it. My kids had a harder time with Muslim and Jewish faith. Because they worship one God and Jews even worship the same God as us, they just don't believe in Jesus. Those were much harder to explain than the gods and goddesses according to our beliefs.

[robsiew]

We did ancients last year into this year. My oldest is 9, youngest 4 so they are really young. We talk a lot, every day about the One True God. We did a lot of reading of the Greek and Roman myths. We talked a lot about them and compared them to our One True God. The kids understood very clearly the difference between the two. It actually gave us some really good conversations. For instance, they realized that the Romans and Greeks always felt like they had to be careful not to anger their gods. We were able to talk about the fact that we don't have to worry about that. Our One True God loves us very much and nothing we can do will ever change that. I guess I used it as a teaching time and not something we needed to steer clear of. All children are different and can handle things at different times, but for us it worked.

[Starr]

My dc have always loved fairy tales and mythology. It never confused them in regards to the truth of the Bible. I think the bigger problem would be if they weren't being taught the Bible from the time they were young.

[mominbc]

There is a fantastic book that my DS(16) just read called "Achilles to Christ, Why Christians Should Read the Pagan Classics". It might be helpful to you.:)

I thought I would add that I felt the same way as you when first started homeschooling, however I found that instead of my fears of it confusing my kids happening, the opposite is true. Their faith is stronger and they are able to ask the hard questions while they are at home which builds a very strong foundation.

Edited February 2, 2010 by mominbc

[mommyrooch]

My kids never confused the two so it's a non issue.

 

:iagree: My kids have never had a problem understanding the difference between fact and fiction. Mythology to them is just another fiction story .

[Aubrey]

I'm a conservative Christian, & I taught them, but for the most part, I don't think they even remember them! :lol:

 

I have a neighbor, though, who has gone the other rte & avoids them for her dc. It's funny, really--I'm more reserved on what I let my dc see on tv than she is. Maybe we all pick our battles? ;)

[HSMom2One]

and I read Bible stories from the OT to ds 10, (then 7), while I was reading Egyptian, Greek and Roman myths to him in history. Doing so proved to be a very rich endeavor in our case; as we were reading about plagues in Egypt, the Exodus, and the ten commandments, he had a much better understanding of the prohibition against idolatry. When we read about warnings against inter-marriage with idolaters, he had a much better understanding of the context and the implications.

 

I didn't plan it this way at the time, but in retrospect, I found that reading the Bible and these ancient myths concurrently was very effective for us.

 

Others here have approached this differently, and I respect that too.

 

:iagree: I agree with this post whole heartedly.

 

We are using TOG Yr. 1, which is a study of the ancients. TOG presents a thoroughly Christian worldview, so that helps a great deal. But even without my teacher's notes I can easily point out to my dd that the Greek and Roman mythology we are studying is totally man-centered rather than God-centered. My dd and I have wonderful discussions regarding the differences between the cultural beliefs of these ancient people and the people of Israel. So for us -- like others that have replied -- this is not an issue at all. Granted, my dd is older than yours, but we could have made the same points in the younger years.

 

Blessings,

Lucinda

[elegantlion]

It's a non-issue for us as well. the gods (little g) are not confused the God (big G).

[mrsrevmeg]

We are doing TOG year one this year and I have loved the mythology aspect. It has shown me what the people of the Bible were accustomed to as far as beliefs and why it would have been hard to go from worshiping multi-gods to worship of one God. When gods in the OT are mentioned, we know what they the god of, if human sacrifice was a form of worship for them, etc. I do understand that many families feel differently. I think that studying the false gods has helped our family grow to appreciate the one true God more deeply.

[HSMom2One]

We are doing TOG year one this year and I have loved the mythology aspect. It has shown me what the people of the Bible were accustomed to as far as beliefs and why it would have been hard to go from worshiping multi-gods to worship of one God. When gods in the OT are mentioned, we know what they the god of, if human sacrifice was a form of worship for them, etc. I do understand that many families feel differently. I think that studying the false gods has helped our family grow to appreciate the one true God more deeply.

 

:iagree: I wish I'd have said this too. Well put!

 

Blessings,

Lucinda

[LibraryLover]

So Christian kids are confusing Atlas with Jesus?

Edited February 2, 2010 by LibraryLover

[Harriet Vane]

I agree with Mrs. Mungo...

 

Are you kids in Sunday School or are they learning standard Bible stories from you (especially OT)? Bible stories are filled with false gods such as Baal, the god that King Nebuchadnezzar built (fiery furnace story), Jonah and the Ninevites, etc. These stories are filled with gods that the Bible teaches to be false gods. How is teaching mythology any different than teaching our children that the gods of the Philistines, Egyptians, and so on are false gods?

 

Not all mythology is god-related, either. Some are just fantastical stories. Do you let your children hear fairy tales? What about Aesop's fables, which are filled with talking animals, etc.

 

I've actually thought about this quite a bit, and discussed it with some Christian friends who are choosing to put off the teaching of mythology, and some who have just ventured forward at an early age. I think you know your children best, and it's good that you are thinking about it now!

 

:iagree:

 

We always discuss everything in the context of what the Bible says about the One True God. My kids have never had any confusion. In fact, I would say that the exercise of talking about the differences in what the Bible says about God versus what we find in mythology have helped cement my kids' thinking on God.

[Heather in Neverland]

:iagree:

 

We always discuss everything in the context of what the Bible says about the One True God. My kids have never had any confusion. In fact, I would say that the exercise of talking about the differences in what the Bible says about God versus what we find in mythology have helped cement my kids' thinking on God.

 

 

Ditto

[Laurie4b]

We avoided myths until late elementary/middle school and I'm very glad that we did. I was not particularly worried about the religious content, but the general "darkness" of them. Same with fairy tales--for the similar reasons: most have elements that are very frightening to young children. I had nightmares for years as a child about witches, was afraid in bed at night, etc. Our children avoided that entirely until a dear grandmotherly babysitter let our kids watch a monsters video while babysitting them!

 

Anyway, if you have doubts about it, wait until their minds are more developed. They can better filter things at an older age on all levels. Absolutely no harm done to their educations if you skip that stuff when they are little.

[SquirrellyMama]

I know most people have said it is a non issue and for my first child it really was a non issue. My 6 yr old has asked me to stop reading the Greek/Roman myths because he said it was giving him problems believing our God was real. We still come upon them in SOTW but I don't check out extra books on the subject to read to him.

 

It isn't that he is confusing their gods for our God but he's having troubling understanding how their gods could be fake but our God is real.

[TXMomof4]

I had similar questions about this as OP when MomsintheGarden was teaching the kids about Roman and Greek mythology. As others have said, it turns out it was a complete non-issue. In fact, I'm now convinced that our children have a much clearer and more complete understanding of world history than most people ever get. Certainly much better than the history education I received in PS, which isn't saying much!

 

I remember doing mythology in elementary school and I loved it - I had no hesitation about telling my kids those 'fun' stories when they were young. Then I watched my older two dds love reading Shakespeare on their own (abridged versions) and now they have much more enjoyment of the Percy Jackson stories because they *get* it. They see a character they already know in Zeus, Poseidon, Athena, etc. It is really fun to watch them make the connections.

 

It was also fun for science. We would talk about lightning - that people believed it was bolts from Zeus - how it actually occurs and how smart God is to use nature to create such wonders. I never felt like my children were in danger of being led astray by such fantastical stories.

[RoughCollie]

My kids never confused the two so it's a non issue.

 

Same here.

[Parrothead]

Reading mythology/fairy tales has never been a problem here.

[Aubrey]

We avoided myths until late elementary/middle school and I'm very glad that we did. I was not particularly worried about the religious content, but the general "darkness" of them. Same with fairy tales--for the similar reasons: most have elements that are very frightening to young children. I had nightmares for years as a child about witches, was afraid in bed at night, etc. Our children avoided that entirely until a dear grandmotherly babysitter let our kids watch a monsters video while babysitting them!

 

Anyway, if you have doubts about it, wait until their minds are more developed. They can better filter things at an older age on all levels. Absolutely no harm done to their educations if you skip that stuff when they are little.

 

That's interesting--I felt the same way about fairy tales. We didn't read them until they came up in history, at which point, we read them once, & usually watched the Disney version together as a family. Once.

 

I decided that seeing it once would not have the same impact that giving it to girls as the air they breathe from the time they can walk. It was definitely a risk to throw the Disney in there, though, & we didn't watch them all. There are some, though, that I just couldn't let go of, & in the end, dh, as a hist major, really enjoyed that aspect of films like Snow White, that represented the first of its kind.

[3littlekeets]

Well, we had a very different experience. My son was in Catholic school at the time (he was 6 and in K). The head nun called me and said, "Well, we had an interesting morning with J."

 

"We were learning about Cain and Abel, and J said, 'that story sounds just like Romulus and Remus. That is a myth, so this must be too.'" :D

 

Ah... they called in Fr. X. He is a great man and talked a long time with J about the parallels between mythology and religion. He knows J, even at 6, is a questioner and never takes a simple answer. Ultimately, they "agreed," that when God has an important story to tell, he tells it to different people in different ways, at different times. God existed BEFORE Greek & Roman mythology, but they weren't able to understand Him yet...so he sent his lessons in a different form.

 

So now, J always looks for parallels, etc.

 

Obviously, this would NOT work for you if you are fundamentalist, etc, but for us, it was wonderful! :D

[kmacnchs]

I got a lot of insight from this thread about being a Christian and teaching greek gods:

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=138398&highlight=bible

[Chris in VA]

My kids never confused the two.

As for fairy tales, we look at them as lovely stories. We even see that some of them reflect Christian themes--after all, Christ is said to someday return on a "white horse" to rescue his Bride. That sounds a lot like the Prince coming for the Princess to me.

 

That said, I believe children can only discern the Truth when that Truth is living and real in their lives. In order for mine to enjoy the Greek myths (which I believe are not based in fact) without confusion or fear, they must know the character and nature of the Trinity. It's harder to see why our God is real and others aren't (our beliefs) if you are not in relationship with Him.

[Caitilin]

Well, we had a very different experience. My son was in Catholic school at the time (he was 6 and in K). The head nun called me and said, "Well, we had an interesting morning with J."

 

"We were learning about Cain and Abel, and J said, 'that story sounds just like Romulus and Remus. That is a myth, so this must be too.'" :D

 

Ah... they called in Fr. X. He is a great man and talked a long time with J about the parallels between mythology and religion. He knows J, even at 6, is a questioner and never takes a simple answer. Ultimately, they "agreed," that when God has an important story to tell, he tells it to different people in different ways, at different times. God existed BEFORE Greek & Roman mythology, but they weren't able to understand Him yet...so he sent his lessons in a different form.

 

So now, J always looks for parallels, etc.

 

Obviously, this would NOT work for you if you are fundamentalist, etc, but for us, it was wonderful! :D

 

 

What a great story!! I love it! Thanks for sharing it with us. :D

[Jugglin'5]

I can definitely see how knowing the personalities of your children could play into this decision. My 12 year old still can't watch some of the same movies as my 9 yr old because he gets nightmares easily. As I reread the OPs original post, I realized that she is not talking about not teaching mythology at all, but waiting until they are older than 1st grade. I should have read her post more carefully initially and not just skimmed it. I don't think I explicitly taught mythology via D'Aulaire's, etc. to any of mine until they were, say, 9 or 10. Though some did hear a bit of it in the car listening to SOTW cd's. I think mythology is important to know, but 6 or 7 could be too young depending on the child.

 

Warning - opinionated Christian viewpoint:): FWIW, there are tons of Bible stories that have a mythological counterpart, usually with a subtle but important difference. Samson/Hercules, Moses/many different baby-in-a-basket lost prince stories, Jesus/resurrected god stories, etc. For instance, the Moses story is a complete reversal. In the pagan stories, the baby(Romulus/Remus, Cyrus, Oedipus, etc) is really a prince who is raised in a lowly shepherd's hut, but is later discovered to be heir to the throne. So the pattern is up-down-up. Moses on the other hand, is really the child of slaves, raised by a princess to be a prince, who voluntarily gives it up in humilty to cast his lot with the slaves. Down-up-down. Humble thyself in the sight of the Lord and He shall lift you up. I teach my kids that either/both 1)God caused the Bible stories to happen in that way to be a critique of the pagan viewpoint in a humorous, ironic way, and/or 2)the pagan myths were corruptions of the true stories.

[LittleIzumi]

We've touched on some Greek myths and my 4-year-old understands quite clearly that the sun is NOT a god pulled across the sky by firey horses, so it was easy to explain that it was stories they made up for what they didn't understand (or the holes missing from what bits of the knowledge of God remained). But I'm not going to go into extreme depth in it yet. Maybe in a year or two.

[LittleIzumi]

Ultimately, they "agreed," that when God has an important story to tell, he tells it to different people in different ways, at different times. God existed BEFORE Greek & Roman mythology, but they weren't able to understand Him yet...so he sent his lessons in a different form.

 

So now, J always looks for parallels, etc.

 

Obviously, this would NOT work for you if you are fundamentalist, etc, but for us, it was wonderful! :D

 

YES, that. That's what I was trying to get at with the holes in their knowledge of God, but much more sensibly. They know about God as much as they can, but sometimes the knowledge is lost or they weren't ready for all of it. But I think I will wait until dd is at least 6 to be exposing her to a large amount so she can sort it all out in her head more easily.

[Greta]

Ultimately, they "agreed," that when God has an important story to tell, he tells it to different people in different ways, at different times. God existed BEFORE Greek & Roman mythology, but they weren't able to understand Him yet...so he sent his lessons in a different form.

 

So now, J always looks for parallels, etc.

 

I love this, and wanted to thank you for posting it. While certainly not a child physically, I am a child in my faith, and this is very helpful to me. :001_smile:

[Hedgehogs4]

My children know "There is only one God, the true and living God..." and they understand that mythology and studying cultures which worshiped idols and other gods is part of history, and that they were not worshiping the true God. They have no problem with this at all...in fact they sort of marvel at the craziness of the Greek gods and wonder, "How could they worship something like that?"

 

We are currently studying Greek mythology and the kids love it.

[Ester Maria]

Can I sneak in even if we aren't Christians? :)

 

When my then about-4 y.o. talked to dad about the gods she knows about, by showing him drawings ("This is X, the god of Y; this is Z, the goddess of A" kind of thing), at some point he laughed, sat her, and told her: "Look, kid, there's only one God, and we don't believe in Him." :D I think that confession, made in the remarkable spirit of "Jewish atheism" (my mother in law, when she heard that, commented something of the kind how for us Jews monotheism is innate in our souls, and even if we reject God intellectually, we still automatically behave in monotheist patterns :)), made her more confused than anything else, gods-wise and mythology-wise.

 

And now seriously, even our daughters, raised in an atheist home which was "sorta" culturally Jewish, pretty much always distinguished monotheism from polytheism, even before formal instruction on those concepts. I don't think it's an issue for kids, especially if they come from religious homes and grow up religiously. They might have intellectual difficulties with some outern aspects (such as specific stories which can be parallel and thus similar, etc.), but if they grow up practicing a monotheist religion, I don't think they get confused by fantastic stories or fairy tales or mythologies or "transfer" the polytheist "modus operandi" onto their home religion, thus confusing them. At least personally I haven't met a child with that difficulties, and I know quite a number of kids from observant Jewish and Christian homes who read mythologies at an early age. If you attribute importance to a specific system in your home and raise your children that way, no way they wouldn't "get" that that system differs on the essential level from other systems they read about, it goes subconsciously.

 

When my daughters grew up a little I studied Greek philosophy on religion with them and tried to explain how Greek "polytheist system" as we know it from popular representations might, in fact, be a "fossilized" stage from one epoch, while during other periods many people thought differently about the phenomenon of god(s).

[FO4UR]

Interesting thread!

 

I teach mythology, very carefully.

 

Really, it's good to look at how ancient people distorted God....worshiped creatION and not the CreatOR...worshiped objects that they themselves had made. It's like looking into a mirror of the human soul b/c we ALL do that on some level. It's part of our sin nature....we are created as worshipers, and will worship whatever (sports, curriculum, TV, internet, our children, the economy, our bank accounts, our home, etc, etc) when we are in rebellion from the One True God. We are foolish if we think that worshiping at the feet of (insert my personal idol) is any different than worshiping the gods of Ancient Egypt/Greece/Rome.

 

So, we always line up the mythology next to the Truth. Plus, the false gods of ancient times are directly mentioned in the Bible...it's important to know exactly what God was talking about there. Everything in the Bible is there for our edification (what is that verse in Timothy???)....the accounts of Joseph and Moses cannot be fully understood w/o some understanding of Egyptian religious beliefs....Paul's teachings go much deeper when we understand his audience...

 

At what age to teach these things....it's a personal issue, but it's better early rather than too late. imHo

[KidsHappen]

in fact they sort of marvel at the craziness of the Greek gods

 

You look like you are fairly new here so you probably are not aware of this yet but we actually have people on this board who still worship the Greek Gods.

 

"How could they worship something like that?"

 

 

Many non-Cristians wonder the same thing about Christians and if you think about it, it is probably much harder for an non-Christian to explain to their child why all these other stories about gods are myths but Christians believe that the stories about Christ are not.

 

Edited: I orginally used atheist instead of non-Christian but then realized that, that sentiment applied to more than just atheists and therefore, changed the word athiest to non-Christian.

Edited February 2, 2010 by KidsHappen

[Spy Car]

Many atheist wonder the same thing about Christians and if you think about it, it is probably much harder for an atheist to explain to their child why all these other stories about gods are myths but Christians believe that the stories about Christ are not.

 

All the sacred stories that tell of the world's creation, of the creation of mankind and the natural world, as the product or work a super-natural being (or beings) are by definition "myth" or mythos.

 

"Myth" (despite the common mis-use of the term) is not a synonym for "false-hood" or false-story, the term refers to scared stories that explain our origins, the origin of the world and our relationship with a divine being (or beings).

 

Bill (who's fighting a losing battle to re-claim the proper use of "myth")

Edited February 2, 2010 by Spy Car