# When teaching Religion, Myth and Legend as Literature should it be labeled as Fiction? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [April 9, 2026, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-teaching-religion-myth-and-legend-as-literature-should-it-be-labeled-as-fiction/1029156 "2026-04-09T19:33:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2026, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-teaching-religion-myth-and-legend-as-literature-should-it-be-labeled-as-fiction/1029156/41 "2026-04-10T12:40:56Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > > [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > > > Do you think that the ancient Greeks took Greek myth less seriously than Christian do _their_ myths? > > Where did I mention any specific religion? My statement is generic to religions and the bar has been set - _It is interwoven with society, culture, authority, status to a degree that myths and legends never acquire. Religion is lived, myths and legends are told_ And i agree with you. An important different between any live, functioning religion and fiction is that people live the religion. I would say that what we call “myth” is kinda the corpse of religion, it’s religious writing stripped of the people who live it. And I’m okay calling writings of living religions myths, just like I’m okay referring to human bodies whether the person is alive or dead. But i wouldn’t call any myths “fiction” unless they are part of a fictional world. So the myths that Tolkien write are also fiction. But the ones that Ovid wrote about really aren’t, even if Ovid didn’t take them seriously. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2026, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-teaching-religion-myth-and-legend-as-literature-should-it-be-labeled-as-fiction/1029156/42 "2026-04-10T12:52:46Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > But i wouldn’t call any myths “fiction” unless they are part of a fictional world. So the myths that Tolkien write are also fiction. But the ones that Ovid wrote about really aren’t, even if Ovid didn’t take them seriously. Yes. The distinguishing feature of a myth is at some point, people _did_ believe in them. Whether it’s a religious myth, urban myth or some other type of myth, the word is consistently used to refer to something that people do or did believe in. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2026, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-teaching-religion-myth-and-legend-as-literature-should-it-be-labeled-as-fiction/1029156/43 "2026-04-10T13:01:22Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Right before you present a Greek myth in the classroom, you accurately state that we’re _not_ saying we think what you’re about to hear is true. And then, right before you present something from the Bible, you say the same thing. And then, right before you do likewise with the story of Beowulf or something, you say the same thing. I’m trying to think backs to books we read as a class, like _The Giver_ or _Lord of the Flies_ or _1984_, or stories we didn’t read but learned about, like _The Illiad_ or the stories from the Bible and the Quran. I don’t remember a single time where the teacher paused to say “Now, remember, we don’t think that these stories are literally true”, in any of these contexts. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2026, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-teaching-religion-myth-and-legend-as-literature-should-it-be-labeled-as-fiction/1029156/44 "2026-04-10T13:09:02Z")
I read a lot of mythology in elementary school, and i can’t remember anyone telling me it wasn’t true. I do have a Christian friend whose child believed a little too much in Santa Claus, and who sat the child down to explain that Santa isn’t real, and Jesus is. But Greek myths? Norse myths? Sally Dick and Jane? Pride and prejudice? No one ever told me those weren’t true. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2026, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-teaching-religion-myth-and-legend-as-literature-should-it-be-labeled-as-fiction/1029156/45 "2026-04-10T13:18:25Z")
Yep. I think kids have a pretty good instinct for this stuff. I haven’t asked my daughter if she thinks that Santa is real (my wife would be pissed if I ruin the illusion lol) but I’m 90% sure that she views Santa the same way she views Mickey Mouse or any other TV character. We _did_ have a tangentially related talk about animals that are real that you can see at the zoo; animals that are real but extinct meaning there aren’t any more, like mammoths and dinosaurs; and animals that are imaginary, like unicorns or dragons. (She was very upset to hear that unicorns are imaginary and told me that when she grows up she’s going to become a scientist so she can create them) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2026, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-teaching-religion-myth-and-legend-as-literature-should-it-be-labeled-as-fiction/1029156/46 "2026-04-10T13:20:38Z")
Gotcha. A nice idea. I have long advocated that whenever a teacher does a “lie to children” for legit pedagogical reasons, they take time first to make a disclaimer along the lines of “What I’m about to explain is a very simplified version of reality. There is a LOT more complexity we won’t talk about until some other year in your schooling. This is a sketch of the reality, not a high res photo. So don’t take this as the entire story; you’ll learn more and different later.” Kids eyes will glaze over, but if they get the message repeated to them enough times in front of enough topics, many of them will become less doctrinaire about everything by osmosis. I hope. I hold out zero expectation any such thing will ever become part of common practice. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2026, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-teaching-religion-myth-and-legend-as-literature-should-it-be-labeled-as-fiction/1029156/47 "2026-04-10T13:30:50Z")
There’s a chapter in Roald Dahl’s _The Witches_ where the narrator pauses to explain that witches still live among us, and who knows - perhaps your schoolteacher who is reading these words to you right now is actually a witch in disguise! (Kind of a dick move, IMO.) ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2026, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-teaching-religion-myth-and-legend-as-literature-should-it-be-labeled-as-fiction/1029156/48 "2026-04-10T13:31:52Z")
In junior high English, my class read “Daniel in the Lions’ Den” and “David and Goliath”, both King James version. In high school, my class read the book of Job, also King James version. Neither teacher referred to it as fact or fiction, just by the titles. (My junior high teacher complained about having to teach them, because she said the King James version was “too difficult to understand”.) Now that I think of it, I don’t think I read anything that could be called non-fiction in any English class after elementary school. I did read some in college, but they were about the history and criticism of the novel. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2026, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-teaching-religion-myth-and-legend-as-literature-should-it-be-labeled-as-fiction/1029156/49 "2026-04-10T13:40:05Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I have long advocated that whenever a teacher does a “lie to children” for legit pedagogical reasons, they take time first to make a disclaimer along the lines of “What I’m about to explain is a very simplified version of reality. There is a LOT more complexity we won’t talk about until some other year in your schooling. This is a sketch of the reality, not a high res photo. So don’t take this as the entire story; you’ll learn more and different later.” I do that a lot in my high school math classes, because I’m ideologically opposed to lies to children. Advanced classes end up having to waste way too much time un-teaching wrong ideas that students were taught in earlier classes. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2026, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-teaching-religion-myth-and-legend-as-literature-should-it-be-labeled-as-fiction/1029156/50 "2026-04-10T13:44:21Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > There’s a chapter in Roald Dahl’s _The Witches_ where the narrator pauses to explain that witches still live among us, and who knows - perhaps your schoolteacher who is reading these words to you right now is actually a witch in disguise! (Kind of a dick move, IMO.) We literally read this book in elementary school in class, with the teacher reading it out loud for the most part and occasionally taking turns. That line sounds very memorable to hear from your teacher, and it would probably have been, but I didn’t speak English very well yet at that time so I barely remember anything from the book beyond the fact that we did in fact read it. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2026, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-teaching-religion-myth-and-legend-as-literature-should-it-be-labeled-as-fiction/1029156/51 "2026-04-10T13:44:29Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > … Shakespeare had one who walked in beauty like the night. [Lord Byron.](https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43844/she-walks-in-beauty) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2026, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-teaching-religion-myth-and-legend-as-literature-should-it-be-labeled-as-fiction/1029156/52 "2026-04-10T18:22:18Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Are you under the impression that Shakespeare is currently considered non-fiction? Shakespeare is categorized under Literature, not Fiction. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2026, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-teaching-religion-myth-and-legend-as-literature-should-it-be-labeled-as-fiction/1029156/53 "2026-04-10T19:01:22Z")
What library or bookstore has both “literature” and “fiction” as separate categories? ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2026, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-teaching-religion-myth-and-legend-as-literature-should-it-be-labeled-as-fiction/1029156/54 "2026-04-10T19:09:09Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > What library or bookstore has both “literature” and “fiction” as separate categories?. Literally every school or public library I’ve been to has Shakespeare in the 800s of the Dewey Decimal organized section while “Fiction” is a separate section organized alphabetically by the author’s name and sometimes by subgenre (my local library has a separate section for “Science and SciFi” or “Young Adult” fiction for example) Same with Barnes and Noble and similar bookstores. > **[Genrefication Debate: Dewey has worked for 150 years. Why change it now? -...](https://www.readerpants.net/2015/06/genrefication-debate-dewey-has-worked.html)** > >     When Dewey created the Dewey Decimal System in 1872, all books, including fiction novels, had a specific location within Dewey. My college library, which used Library of Congress cataloging instead of Dewey, housed all fiction on the fourth... > [@](#): > > Because of our large numbers of fiction books, most school libraries today separate their fiction from the 800s and into their own Fiction section. They do this because unlike in 1872, today’s readers have a virtually unlimited choice of fiction novels and picture books. If librarians were to leave all the fiction books in the 800 section, the 800 section would encompass half of the library. Further, picture books, chapter books, young adult novels, and adult novels would all be alphabetical by author, with no division among them. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2026, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-teaching-religion-myth-and-legend-as-literature-should-it-be-labeled-as-fiction/1029156/55 "2026-04-10T19:14:44Z")
Huh. It’s been ages since I’ve seen a library use the Dewey Decimal system at all. Possibly because if you’re going to abandon the system for half of your collection, why bother using it for the other half? ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2026, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-teaching-religion-myth-and-legend-as-literature-should-it-be-labeled-as-fiction/1029156/56 "2026-04-10T19:16:39Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Huh. It’s been ages since I’ve seen a library use the Dewey Decimal system at all. How do your libraries organize their nonfiction section then? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2026, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-teaching-religion-myth-and-legend-as-literature-should-it-be-labeled-as-fiction/1029156/57 "2026-04-10T19:45:03Z")
The Library of Congress system, usually. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2026, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-teaching-religion-myth-and-legend-as-literature-should-it-be-labeled-as-fiction/1029156/58 "2026-04-10T20:16:03Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > An argument against it is religion is practiced historically, and thus not fiction. It is interwoven with society, culture, authority, status to a degree that myths and legends never acquire. Religion is lived, myths and legends are told. That makes religion much more integral to humanity and more ‘real’, though yes in that religion does use myths, because it is lived, it’s not really fiction. Absolutely not true. The only difference between religion and what we now call mythology is that religions have influence today over what society thinks. Mythologies are dismissed only because their adherents and advocates are dead. Otherwise they are indistinguishable. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2026, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-teaching-religion-myth-and-legend-as-literature-should-it-be-labeled-as-fiction/1029156/59 "2026-04-10T20:33:45Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > Literally every school or public library I’ve been to has Shakespeare in the 800s of the Dewey Decimal organized section while “Fiction” is a separate section organized alphabetically by the author’s name and sometimes by subgenre (my local library has a separate section for “Science and SciFi” or “Young Adult” fiction for example) Right. 822.33 is Shakespeare. Library of Congress-classifies Shakespearean works primarily within the **PR 2750–PR 3112** range of its classification system, PR being English Literature. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2026, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-teaching-religion-myth-and-legend-as-literature-should-it-be-labeled-as-fiction/1029156/60 "2026-04-10T20:36:44Z")
Shakespeare himself poked some fun at the idea of classifying literature in _Hamlet_: > The best actors in the world, either for tragedy, comedy, history, pastoral, pastoral-comical, historical-pastoral, tragical-historical, tragical-comical-historical-pastoral, scene individable, or poem unlimited. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-teaching-religion-myth-and-legend-as-literature-should-it-be-labeled-as-fiction/1029156.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-teaching-religion-myth-and-legend-as-literature-should-it-be-labeled-as-fiction/1029156.md?page=4)