Nice one, Joe Offer! At last we seem to be getting back to the Mudcat tradition of thoughtful, insightful debate. Or perhaps, the trolls haven't found this thread yet...

I think you make a good point when you say that the ancients didn't (or at least, may not have) believed implicitly in their creation myths. I also think that blind, unthinking fundamentalism of the type that is so prevalent today in many aspects of religious thought might well be a function of the worldwide emphasis on increasing literacy, without providing - at the same time - the fundamentals of logic which enable one to make sense of, to accept or reject, the postulates of a particular viewpoint.

And I'm with Ebbie on the Cameron Diaz thread diversion...