stories

[butter_fly_]

last night i was in a rather involved discussion of religion and morality. it's got me thinking... one of the questions posed to me was regarding the worth of religious stories. stories are useful for teaching and explaining and learning; a specific example that i used was that creation stories can help people appreciate the beauty and mystery in

Comments

[tmperdurantism]

I agree with you about the importance of stories in religious tradition, and I don't think religion can function without them. Assuming that the main functions of religion are to explain why things are the way they are and to establish a code of conduct by which we should live, religious teachings of each type are more palatable and more effective if told through stories. Stories are useful because they allow for the demonstration of an abstract and universal principle without forcing it onto the people being taught; there is a big difference between "thou shalt not kill/commit adultery" and telling the story of what happened to a person who did these things, like Oedipus

[butter_fly_]

i would make a new post about this but it's the same topic and i might as well keep it here for easy reference