Only difference I can find is that there are people who “believe” in religions but almost everyone knows mythologies are just stories. So why don’t religions have the same treatment? They’re essentially the same thing, stories about people who may or may not have existed.
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A myth is merely something that can’t be proven but that some people might believe in; a religion is going to designate behaviors or practices, morals or ethics, defining certain places, texts or rituals as sacred, have organizations dedicated to forming communities and teaching its beliefs, what happens after death, etc.
Christianity is a religion because it’s not merely stories about how the world was made: it also dictates what morals a believer in Christianity is supposed to hold, what practices they’re supposed to follow, what texts they’re supposed to consider to be holy, how they’re supposed to understand the world, what holidays they observe, what church they attend, etc.
Compare that to something like the myth of George Washington chopping down a cherry tree, or John Henry out-competing a drilling machine, or Bigfoot, or Paul Bunyan and his Blue Ox. You could consider these myths, but you wouldn’t consider them religions.
A belief in Bigfoot doesn’t require ascribing to a system of moral imperatives. You aren’t expected to pray to Paul Bunyan. John Henry might have a message, but it doesn’t tell you explicitly how you should live your life. The Founding Fathers are treated as larger than life individuals by some, but even those who hold them in high regard aren’t typically going to think about them as divine.
Without meaning any offense to anyone’s believes, you could consider Jesus a one of the foundational myths upon which the religion of Christianity is built. The story of Jesus is the myth; the organized community, religious practices, etc. of Christianity is the religion.
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