Religion

=== Mythology ===
{{Main|Mythology}}

[[File:Kurukshetra.jpg|thumb|A manuscript depicting the climactic [[Kurukshetra War]] in [[Hindu epic]] ''[[Mahabharata]]''. The ''Mahabharata'' is the longest epic poem known and a key source of [[Hindu mythology]].]]

The word ''myth'' has several meanings:
# A traditional story of ostensibly historical events that serves to unfold part of the world view of a people or explain a practice, belief, or natural phenomenon;
# A person or thing having only an imaginary or unverifiable existence; or
# A metaphor for the spiritual potentiality in the human being.<ref>Joseph Campbell, ''The Power of Myth'', p. 22 {{ISBN|0-385-24774-5}}</ref>

Ancient [[polytheistic]] religions, such as those of Greece, [[Ancient Rome|Rome]], and [[Scandinavia]], are usually categorized under the heading of [[mythology]]. Religions of pre-industrial peoples, or [[culture]]s in development, are similarly called myths in the [[anthropology of religion]]. The term myth can be used pejoratively by both religious and non-religious people. By defining another person's religious stories and beliefs as mythology, one implies that they are less real or true than one's own religious stories and beliefs. [[Joseph Campbell]] remarked, "Mythology is often thought of as ''other people's'' religions, and religion can be defined as misinterpreted mythology."<ref>Joseph Campbell, ''Thou Art That: Transforming Religious Metaphor''. Ed. Eugene Kennedy. New World Library {{ISBN|1-57731-202-3}}.</ref>

In sociology, however, the term myth has a non-pejorative meaning. There, myth is defined as a story that is important for the group, whether or not it is objectively or provably true.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/myth|title=myth|website=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=24 April 2016|archive-date=13 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210913072251/https://www.britannica.com/topic/myth|url-status=live}}</ref> Examples include the [[resurrection]] of their real-life founder [[Jesus]], which, to Christians, explains the means by which they are freed from sin, is symbolic of the power of life over death, and is also said to be a historical event. But from a mythological outlook, whether or not the event actually occurred is unimportant. Instead, the [[symbol]]ism of the death of an old life and the start of a new life is most significant. Religious believers may or may not accept such symbolic interpretations.