Religion quote

[qatarperegrine]

...we must never forget that as indispensible and historically valuable as the Quran and the traditions of the Prophet may be, they are nevertheless grounded in mythology. It is a shame that this word, myth, which originally signified nothing more than stories of the supernatural, has come to be regarded as synonymous with falsehood, when in fact myths are always true. By their very nature, myths inhere both legitimacy and credibility. Whatever truths they convey have little to do with historical fact. To ask whether Moses actually parted the Red Sea, or whether Jesus truly raised Lazarus from the dead, or whether the word of God indeed poured through the lips of Muhammad, is to ask totally irrelevant questions. The only question that matters with regard to a religion and its mythology is "What do these stories mean?"

-Reza Aslan, No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam, xviii

Comments

[y-pestis.livejournal.com]

Neat quote! Great music! :-)

You're not in Narnia anymore, Toto.

[materjibrail.livejournal.com]

Was it Tolkien or CS Lewis who said Christianity was the greatest of all myths AND it actually all happened in history? Do I asume this Aslan reflects your thought more nowadays?
I liked the comments by someone's mother(?) about the *meaning* of Jesus' death and resurrection being important. The central myth of Christianity.

Re: You're not in Narnia anymore, Toto.

[qatar.livejournal.com]

I don't know if it reflects my thought. I think I'd be more likely to agree with the idea that "true" is not a meaningful concept when applied to myth than that ALL myths are inherently true. Is the myth of Aryan superiority "true" simply because it's a myth?