*sigh* Why on earth do people think I am against creativity, or that science can't address it?

We are absolutely not, as members of a society, entitled to choose what we believe. If people were entitled to choose what they believed, schooling would not be compulsory, and racism would not be discouraged. And if we were so entitled, then others in the society would be even more entitled -if not duty-bound- to tell us when what we believe is wrong or has been proven untrue.

The whole point of civilizing is to prevent people from believing stupid things that are bad for the civilization and to teach them smart things that are good for the society. It's also called rearing children.

And believing in mythology today, when there is no earthly reason to, is harmful to society and to its members, and should not be supported. It's the harm, people. It's the harm. I keep saying that but I keep reading arguments like If you have to deal with facts you stifle creativity. Puh-leeze. (Not just you, Dianavan, it keeps coming up. You just put it well *BG*.)

If you expect people to live in a world of facts and figures (history) you are asking that they believe in another set of lies that are also subject to change as time goes on. - excuse me? You are equating mythology with history and scientific knowledge? You have got to be kidding. Sure, history books are often written by the victors - but they aren't fairy tales. And look at American history books now - they aren't about how we inherited this land from a band of naked savages any more. We no longer allow that kind of slanted, pseudohistory (of course, in theocracies, that is exactly the kind of lies that get told - try checking out an Iranian "history" text) because we know better.

Well, we know better than to believe in fairy tales. (Or at least, we should.) And of course scientific knowledge changes - it's supposed to. That's how science advances. Just as history changes with greater knowledge of the present.

My kids have been taught all the common mythologies - norse, greek, hindu, egyptian, and monotheism (be it one god or one goddess). As a result, my kids actually think, rather than turning to authority for answers. They ask - but then they discuss, argue, and ask follow-up questions. They are great story tellers and they know the difference between a story and a fact. I wish I could say the same for all their schoolmates.

The last thing I would want is for my twins to incorporate any myths into their knowledge base, as if they were reality. And they argue theology with their friends - the ones who *think* stay their friends, and the unquestioning faithful don't, and that is fine with me too. Why would any intelligent person want to hang out with a sheep?

Being female has nothing to do with the particular deity in which you place your faith, and I think it surprisingly sexist of you to think it would. I know a lot of male Wiccans who would object to that characterization - and rightly so. Why not believe in your goddess because it makes sense to, instead? (Oops - that's right. It doesn't make sense, does it.)

And of course the God of Abraham, being mythological, didn't exist for Abraham. He (Abraham) may have thought it did, but that doesn't make it REAL. You actually believe that he believed in it, not that it *existed* for him - since you don't believe in it. Why aren't you willing to say so? Nobody here would be offended...

The idea of spirit in the sense of "more than /other than what we perceive" is quite alive and well in me, too. (I do not believe that inanimate objects perceive, nor that many other animals perceive their perceptions, which is what it takes to have Spirit in that sense. Maybe elephants, maybe dolphins - but not even the other great apes.) It just doesn't have anything to do with mythology. Inspiration is a mental process, and therefore is a brain process. It has nothing to do with mythology, any more than creativity does. It's a mental, human, ability. We evolved it, we can do it, and there are no gods or unicorns or leprechauns or goblins involved.