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Many people experience a profound need to believe in the existence of supernatural, all-powerful beings endowed with the power to create (and destroy) every aspect of the past, present, and future existence. They believe that these beings also establish the ‘rules of the road’ for humans to live by, dividing aspects of life into moral and obedient, or sinful and disobedient things.
These man-made myths have never been something all people relied on, but they have played (for better and worse) a significant role in human history.
Contemporary practice of mythology (organized religion) is often represented as being a matter of “personal belief”; however, the enforcement of religion as the Taliban does in Afghanistan, and Christian Nationalists seek to do in the United States of America (and other places), reveals the danger of surrendering personal civil and human rights to theological authoritarianism.
An etiological myth is an “origin story” that explains the cause or origin of a natural phenomenon, cultural practice, a social custom, or a name, using a traditional narrative, often involving supernatural beings, heroes, or forces. These myths provide a culture with a way to make sense of the world by giving reasons for things that might otherwise seem mysterious or random. The word “etiological” comes from the Greek word aition, meaning “cause”
A chthonic1 myth involves figures and narratives connected to the earth, the underworld, and the forces of nature, often including deities of agriculture, death, and rebirth, like Hades and Persephone in Greek mythology. These myths, rooted in the Greek word for “earth” (chthōn), differ from Olympian myths in their focus on subterranean realms and contrasting ritual practices, such as pouring blood onto the ground for chthonic gods instead of burning offerings to the sky deities
A creation myth is a symbolic narrative that describes how the world and humanity came into existence. Found in nearly every human culture, these stories address fundamental questions about existence and a community’s place in the universe, providing a framework for its worldview.
Examples: Judaism/Christianity, Islam, Other Creation Myths
Divine myths are stories where gods, goddesses, or other supernatural beings are the central characters, often explaining the world’s origins, human nature, or the rules of a religion. These myths detail the gods’ births, powers, triumphs, and relationships with mortals, shaping cultural beliefs and practices and reflecting the society’s values and understanding of the cosmos.
Examples: Greek Gods, The Immaculate Conception, Nativity of Jesus
A founding (aka national) myth is an inspiring narrative or anecdote about a nation’s past. Such myths often serve as important national symbols and affirm a set of national values. A myth is entirely ficticious but it is often mixed with aspects of historic reality to form a mythos, which itself has been described as “a pattern of beliefs expressing often symbolically the characteristic or prevalent attitudes in a group or culture”
Examples: Columbus Discovery Myth, George Washington Cherry Tree, United States Founded as a Christian Nation, Civil War Not About Slavery
A hero myth describes the archetypal narrative of a protagonist who undertakes an extraordinary journey, confronts significant challenges, and achieves a transformative outcome that in the eyes of the myth creators (subjectively), benefits society.
Examples: Donald Trump, Riley Gaines, Charlie Kirk
A historical myth is a story about the past that has lost its accuracy but gained meaning, often used to preserve memory, serve as a national symbol, or affirm cultural values. While based on historical events, these narratives are embellished or completely fictional, creating a mythos that may become more important than factual accuracy.
Examples: Donald Trump’s Business Acumen, The Confederacy
Morality myths can refer to common misconceptions about morality, such as the idea that good and evil are always clear-cut or that moral development stops in adolescence. It can also refer to narratives within mythology that function as moral tales, such as the Greek myths of Icarus (warning against hubris) and Pandora (cautioning against temptation). Religious ‘morality’ is often highly contradictory.
How does one reconcile, “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself.” (Lev 19:18), with, “If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.” (Lev 20:13)
A psychological myth is a belief about human behavior and the mind that is widely held but unsupported by scientific evidence. Common examples include the “left-brained/right-brained” theory, the idea that people only use 10% of their brain, or that “opposites attract” in relationships, all of which have been debunked by psychological research.
Examples: School of Humanities & Social Sciences
The trickster myth refers to a type of mythological or folkloric character—the trickster—who is a mischievous, intelligent, and often unpredictable figure that disobeys normal rules and conventions to play tricks, challenge authority, or serve as a cultural hero. Tricksters exist in nearly every culture, appearing as gods, spirits, animals, or humans, and embody a combination of wisdom and foolishness, often using wit rather than strength to achieve their goals, sometimes creating order out of chaos or serving as a cautionary tale
There would be very little institutional and social embedding of religious persecution of gender diverse, intersex, and gay people if mythology/religion were limited to the practice of ‘personal faith’; a matter of private, individualized belief for whatever purpose that belief was perceived to enrich or benefit the individual believer.
Unfortunately, as polytheistic mythologies of the Middle East evolved into monotheist Abrahamic religions, the gradual (and highly subjective) conversion of patriarchal cultural basis’ for domination of women and others into a ‘divine scripture‘ basis, and then church doctrine, led to the demonization of those who violated misogynistic, patriarchal gender-role stereotypes, eventually becoming cornerstones of Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and then later Islamic and Protestant religious practice.
“How did it all start?”
“Is religion the enemy of science?”
“Was Jesus Born in Bethlehem?”
“Striking contradictions in the Bible”
“A timeline of mythology and religion”