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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They aren’t… Not really anyways. It’s legitimately correct to refer to the stories of Christianity as mythology, but the organization is religion.
Religion is just a cult where the leader is dead. Mythology is just a religion where the followers are dead.
Mythologies are outdated religions. Religions are still current mythologies in the sense that there are still people ready to kill for them.
When a religion is outdated it becomes a mythology.
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.
Religion and mythology are not different from each other. They’re tales told through time of heroes and villains, usually with some sort of parable style lesson taught in the moral of the story. Ultimately the difference is wether people still believe they are true or not. If people still claim it as true, they call it religion. If people have been educated out of it as fable, they call it mythology.
Mythology is a fictional story. Religion will have stories, convictions, rituals, and even laws. The stories in religion usually have a lesson to server as a warning or reinforce an ideal. Some of the stories within the religion are considered factual and other fictional. So it depends on the context. Jews, Christians, and Muslims all believe the story of Noah and the flood. But an atheist most likely would not. None of them believe Santa Claws stories are real, even though may Christian’s will share stories and have traditions/rituals based around the fictitious figure.
There’s no real difference, at least from my perspective as a pagan. “Religion” is just a mythology that you personally believe in. The Bible is just as much mythology as the Sagas, the Vedas, and the Kojiki. At the same time, Christianity, Asatru, Hinduism, and Shinto are all equally valid as religions.
mythology is more based of stories and are not religious since they don’t evoke a following. example: jesus. was a preacher and gained a following as so did mohammed. however the minator and the maze. is a story of triumph and overcoming odds; which people are inspired by but don’t exactly follow but tell like a good book. You could say religion is the same, but it’s all personal opinion
They are no different, people just think religion stuff is real. There’s no may or may not, they didn’t exist.
Mythologies are Religions that aren’t practiced anymore
For example Greek Myth. Ancient Greece worshipped Zeus and their gods Like how Christians worshipped Jesus and prayed do good luck etc
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