Quote:
Originally Posted by Saya
Right, but I'm more of the opinion that this thread would be better, if we must keep it going, if we ignored trolls XD I'm just a little uncomfortable comparing living religious texts and traditions to "myths", because its typically used to dismiss; we say Hindu "mythology" as we would dead Greek "mythology", but when we say Christian mythology or Jewish mythology, we're trying to demean it and bring it down to the level of, horror of horrors, religions we think are "silly" and typically are followed by non-Europeans. Not as bad as when people dismiss all religion as "voodoo nonsense" or something of the like, poor Voodoo. I'm not saying that's you're intention here, but its something that skeeves me out a bit, intended or not.
And one thing I like about the Old Testament is that it doesn't really offer truth or salvation or anything, no heaven and hell, no original sin, no after life, and a whole lot of moral grey area, it doesn't pretend its all universal and it should be applied to everyone (after all most of it is addressed very very specifically to a kingdom that no longer exists).
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If the kingdom doesn't exist, wouldn't that rather definitively place it in the "mythology" category alongside the Grecco-Roman, Egyptian, and other dead religions?
It isn't a matter of "bringing it down" to the level of other belief systems, they already occupy the same space in terms of mythological beliefs. What raises it above them? Government recognition? Hello Jedi. Living practitioners? Thor and Co. are doing just fine with Ásatrú, and you can't throw a rock through the window of a New Age Wiccan store without hitting a Bast sculpture.
It's all superstitious nonsense. It is all silly, it isn't a matter of associating a non-silly belief system with "silly" (ie Non-white apparently) ones to demean it, they are all inherently ridiculous, none deserving any more respect than any other.
That doesn't preclude pointing out particular arguments are flawed or otherwise discussing the root subjects.