# How are myth based, supernatural belief systems like Chrstianity going to survive? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 21, 2006, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-myth-based-supernatural-belief-systems-like-chrstianity-going-to-survive/353695 "2006-04-21T21:53:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2006, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-myth-based-supernatural-belief-systems-like-chrstianity-going-to-survive/353695/121 "2006-04-23T19:13:57Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > But without the “c”? I guess I whooshed on that one Tom 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2006, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-myth-based-supernatural-belief-systems-like-chrstianity-going-to-survive/353695/122 "2006-04-23T19:14:26Z")
> [@cosmosdan](#): > > I’m not sure how you view worship. It isn’t always a form of subservient groveling. > > For me it’s reverence for concepts such as “Love thy neighbor as thyself” and “The truth shall set you free” I’m not what reverence for those concepts would have to do with worshipping that jerk Apollo from Star trek… or anyone else. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2006, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-myth-based-supernatural-belief-systems-like-chrstianity-going-to-survive/353695/123 "2006-04-23T19:34:56Z")
> [@cosmosdan](#): > > I guess I whooshed on that one Tom 😕 Look at each word in the sentence I quoted. This message sponsored by **Gaudere**. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2006, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-myth-based-supernatural-belief-systems-like-chrstianity-going-to-survive/353695/124 "2006-04-23T19:47:12Z")
> [@Apos](#): > > I’m not what reverence for those concepts would have to do with worshipping that jerk Apollo from Star trek… or anyone else. You seem to be missing a word in your post. but one of the legitimate definitions of worship can be from Webster: verb 2 : to regard with great or extravagant respect, honor, or devotion noun 4 : extravagant respect or admiration for or devotion to an object of esteem perhaps you were just trying to be funny and I mistook it for trying to make a point. That might not have happened if it had actually been funny 😃 ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2006, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-myth-based-supernatural-belief-systems-like-chrstianity-going-to-survive/353695/125 "2006-04-23T19:52:59Z")
> [@vivalostwages](#): > > **The End of Faith** is definitely worth checking out; I have a copy. Have you ever read anything by John Shelby Spong? He has some very provocative ideas about how Christianity and other religions must change if they are to have any hope of survival. I get an Email newsletter from Spong and I do like a lot of what he says. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2006, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-myth-based-supernatural-belief-systems-like-chrstianity-going-to-survive/353695/126 "2006-04-23T20:06:53Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > Look at each word in the sentence I quoted. This message sponsored by **Gaudere**. Did that. Still whooshed. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Clam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3bc359/32.png) [@Happy\_Clam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Clam)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2006, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-myth-based-supernatural-belief-systems-like-chrstianity-going-to-survive/353695/127 "2006-04-23T20:18:20Z")
You spelt “screen name” without the c. You spelt it “sreen name”. **tomndeb** was commenting on your misspelling a post about my misspelling of your name. Sorry, BTW. Now if there’s a misspelling in there, the circle of irony will be complete. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2006, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-myth-based-supernatural-belief-systems-like-chrstianity-going-to-survive/353695/128 "2006-04-23T20:52:07Z")
It’s ‘spelled’. Unless you’re talking about British wheat. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Clam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3bc359/32.png) [@Happy\_Clam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Clam)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2006, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-myth-based-supernatural-belief-systems-like-chrstianity-going-to-survive/353695/129 "2006-04-23T20:53:49Z")
Well I’ll be damned. I could have sworn that “spelt” was viable. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2006, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-myth-based-supernatural-belief-systems-like-chrstianity-going-to-survive/353695/130 "2006-04-23T21:49:21Z")
> [@Happy Clam](#): > > You spelt “screen name” without the c. You spelt it “sreen name”. **tomndeb** was commenting on your misspelling a post about my misspelling of your name. Sorry, BTW. > > Now if there’s a misspelling in there, the circle of irony will be complete. OOHHHHHHH Yeah funny. That same mistake happens to my screen name fairly often. Some wierd thing where people glancing at it fail to see the second S. Evidently it just happened to me :smack: Since we already have yin and yang we need a new symbol for the circle of irony ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2006, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-myth-based-supernatural-belief-systems-like-chrstianity-going-to-survive/353695/131 "2006-04-23T23:56:39Z")
> [@Happy Clam](#): > > You spelt “screen name” without the c. You spelt it “sreen name”. **tomndeb** was commenting on your misspelling a post about my misspelling of your name. Sorry, BTW. > > Now if there’s a misspelling in there, the circle of irony will be complete. Ignoring ‘spelt’ (an acceptable Britticism variant for “spelled”), I am sure that **tomndebb** would be happy to demonstrate again the vindication of **Gaudere** ’s Law. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2006, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-myth-based-supernatural-belief-systems-like-chrstianity-going-to-survive/353695/132 "2006-04-24T03:21:24Z")
> [@astro](#): > > As modernity proceeds the supernatural & miraculous underpinnings of theist belief systems like Christianity etc. are becoming more and more attenuated in terms of how far educated people in modernity are willing to invest in the strength of their supernatural claims. People in modernity seem to be turning to a concept of religion and faith as an eclectic collection of ethical and behavioral metaphors. > > How far can supernatural “Sky God” style belief systems like Christianity survive into modernity? Actually, that’s the wrong question to ask. We should be asking HOW religion has managed to survive so far. And when are we, as a specieis, going to finish wising up and dump religion completely? ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2006, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-myth-based-supernatural-belief-systems-like-chrstianity-going-to-survive/353695/133 "2006-04-24T03:47:14Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Actually, that’s the wrong question to ask. We should be asking HOW religion has managed to survive so far. And when are we, as a specieis, going to finish wising up and dump religion completely? Well… based on a lot of the reasoned responses in this thread supernatural belief paradigms have a lot of practical utility going for them. However, there is I think, a tendency on the part of more sophisticated and educated believers to make a somewhat glib distinction about what faith can and cannot answer and think that is answer enough. In the end (IMO) if the supernatural and miraculous aspect of one’s faith is continuously eroded and crammed into a small and shrinking corner in modernity, eventually the credibility of that belief system will suffer as not all believers are going to be satisfied with some Olympian, Joseph Campbellesque type view of faith as an exercise in philosophical and spiritual archetypes, and will eventually, over time turn away from the more empirically non-supportable aspects of a belief system, and in the end potentially the belief system itself if enough supports are removed. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2006, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-myth-based-supernatural-belief-systems-like-chrstianity-going-to-survive/353695/134 "2006-04-24T04:10:02Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Well… based on a lot of the reasoned responses in this thread supernatural belief paradigms have a lot of practical utility going for them. However, there is I think, a tendency on the part of more sophisticated and educated believers to make a somewhat glib distinction about what faith can and cannot answer and think that is answer enough. In the end (IMO) if the supernatural and miraculous aspect of one’s faith is continuously eroded and crammed into a small and shrinking corner in modernity, eventually the credibility of that belief system will suffer as not all believers are going to be satisfied with some Olympian, Joseph Campbellesque type view of faith as an exercise in philosophical and spiritual archetypes, and will eventually, over time turn away from the more empirically non-supportable aspects of a belief system, and in the end potentially the belief system itself if enough supports are removed. Belief systems also evolve and redefine themselves. Of course this initially costs some members as the more conservative members resist changes but it can develop from there. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2006, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-myth-based-supernatural-belief-systems-like-chrstianity-going-to-survive/353695/135 "2006-04-24T21:30:29Z")
> [@cosmosdan](#): > > OOHHHHHHH Yeah funny. That same mistake happens to my screen name fairly often. Some wierd thing where people glancing at it fail to see the second S. It’s because ‘cosmodan’ is easier to _say_ than ‘cosmosdan’. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-myth-based-supernatural-belief-systems-like-chrstianity-going-to-survive/353695.md?page=6)