Would religions stand stronger without creation stories?
I think we must begin by identifying religion’s essential puropse. As I understand it, that essential purpose has been to create and maintain distinct cultures. These cultures, for the most part, have ancient tribal roots. Tribal survival depended upon preserving its unique culture. This tended to lead to a feeling of supremacy among members of a given tribe, while regarding other tribes as ‘different’ and therefore inferior. Today, we still live with this legacy of religion. Having said that, I don’t think we could eliminate the creation stories that our ancient ancestors told and still call the remainder ‘religion’. * * * * * Philosophy explores many things, including the meaning of things. As such, it embraces everything you named as parts of religion. While it may never truly replace religion, I think that philosophy could provide a profound framework within which to work out morals, ethics and spirituality–without the inherent prejudices and assumptions of religion. * * * * * As
