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Originally Posted by ape descendant
While there is certainly a dismissive connotation to the word "myth" when it comes to the vernacular, that connotation does not carry over into the study of mythology. Its a lot like the difference between the word theory in the vernacular, verses the word theory in a scientific context.
Whether a religion is extant or not, shouldn't be an issue, in the end they all have allegorical value, despite the value they lack as literal explanations about the world.
While I can certainly see where you're coming from, I don't think it is something that applies in this context.
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We're not mythologists here, we're atheists and Buddhists and I'm not even finished my degree yet. Plus how we understand mythology is often sanitized or outdated., and what we like to view as myths in other cultures is just so we can voyeuristicly study them without knowing about things like Ghost Dances or acknowledging them as living traditions.
When you lift myth out of the religion, you get a story taken out of its cultural and historical context with no mention of how its practiced. Its very unuseful to take something like lets say Judges 19 out of its historical context and why its there at all, and just say "here's a horribly violent story". I suppose that's why so many heathens are racist when I'm sure the Norse didn't give too much thought about it, its not the same religion at all, its a new religion taking stories out of their context and making new religion out of it.