Quote by Michael Shermer, Why People Beli

Myths are about the human struggle to deal with the great passages of time and life - birth, death, marriage, the transitions from childhood to adulthood to old age. They meet a need in the psychological or spiritual nature of humans that has absolutely nothing to do with science. To try to turn a myth into a science, or a science into a myth, is an insult to myths, an insult to religion, and an insult to science. In attempting to do this, creationists have missed the significance, meaning, and sublime nature of myths. They took a beautiful story of creation and re-creation and ruined it.

Myths are about the human struggle to deal with the great pa

Summary

This quote emphasizes that myths serve a fundamental purpose in addressing the universal experiences and transitions throughout human life. It argues that attempting to interpret myths as scientific explanations or turn scientific theories into myths diminishes their true value. The quote specifically criticizes creationists for reducing the beauty and significance of the creation myth through their attempts to present it in a purely scientific manner. It highlights the importance and sublime nature of myths in addressing the psychological and spiritual needs of humanity.

Topics

Mythology Myths

By Michael Shermer, Why People Beli

Liked the quote? Share it with your friends.

Random Quotations

You can always tell a real friend: when you've made a fool o

You can always tell a real friend: when you've made a fool of yourself he doesn't feel you've done a permanent job.

Laurence J. Peter

Friendship

The idea that the rest of the world was somehow being held h

The idea that the rest of the world was somehow being held hostage by the Arab-Israeli conflict once had a minimal basis in reality. In the first 20 years of Israel's existence, every Arab country was in an active state of war with the Jewish state.

War

006 was such an interesting character and the film really ex

006 was such an interesting character and the film really explored his friendship with Bond and how it all went wrong, so it was a very personal journey for both characters.

Friendship

People who are brutally honest get more satisfaction out of

People who are brutally honest get more satisfaction out of the brutality than out of the honesty.

Richard J. Needham

Honesty

Central banks don't have divine wisdom. They try to do the

Central banks don't have divine wisdom. They try to do the best analysis they can and must be prepared to stand or fall by the quality of that analysis.

Give a poet a pen

Give a poet a pen

A. Jarrell Hayes

Life Poetry Humor Funny Author Inspirational Culture Writing Poem Arts Liberal Arts

I like to be somewhere at least where you can see a few girl

I like to be somewhere at least where you can see a few girls around once in a while, even if they're only scratching their arms or blowing their noses or even just giggling or something.

Inspirational Romance

Failure too is a form of death...

Failure too is a form of death...

Failure

A free life cannot acquire many possessions, because this is

A free life cannot acquire many possessions, because this is not easy to do without servility to mobs or monarchs...

Life

Idiots, the lame, the blind, the dumb, are men in whom the d

Idiots, the lame, the blind, the dumb, are men in whom the devils have established themselves: and all the physicians who heal these infirmities, as though they proceeded from natural causes, are ignorant blockheads

Martin Luther King Jr.

Men Devil

The virtues chose Modesty to be their queen. I did not know

The virtues chose Modesty to be their queen. I did not know that I was a virtue, she said. Why did you not choose Innocence? Because of her ignorance, they replied. She knows nothing but that she is a virtue.

Innocence Virtues Modesty

One of the peculiar sins of the twentieth century which we'v

One of the peculiar sins of the twentieth century which we've developed to a very high level is the sin of credulity. It has been said that when human beings stop believing in God they believe in nothing. The truth is much worse: they believe in anything.

Malcolm Muggeridge

Belief