Mikaela Martinez Dettinger: Myth and Religion

 College, for most people, is a time when the faiths they grew up in are questioned and beliefs and values are reevaluated. For me, a philosophy major living with science majors, conversations about religion, the divine, the purpose of life, and much are are frequent and often can last for hours as us three 20 somethings attempt to come to terms with what we believe about life's big questions. A common theme in our dorm's version of the renaissance salons is debating how much merit should be given to organized religion. Lately, because of this class, the idea of myths have become an important part of these conversations. 

For the three of us in my dorm, experiences with organized religions have been stifling, confusing, and sometimes infuriating. It is hard for us to grasp how we are supposed to believe that knowledge from the divine is accurately relayed through a man-made organization such as Christian churches, the Catholic Church, and other established institutions of faith. when this point was being discussed I brought up the idea of these institutions as carriers of myth. I related the verse 2 Corinthians 3:3 which states "You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.". I was taught that this meant to go by the spirit of the law rather than the letter of the law, meaning that man-made laws can be flawed, but through our conscience and values we know what is just and what is not. I used this quote to introduce the idea that these institutions are carriers of myths. Their laws and rules may seem to be skewed in their exact wording or in how they are told to be carried out, but that the spirit of their laws is the same as many of the religions that have existed through time. They urge us to be good people and their teaches are for that aim. One of my roommates then asked why should we bother with these institutions if the same message can be found anywhere. I answered with the essence of a Lewis quote (as I have been doing in almost every situation imaginable throughout this semester because he is burned into my brain). In Myth became Fact  Lewis said "it is the myth which is the vital and nourishing element in the whole concern". Thus, the archaic rituals of the institutions are only a pathway to understanding and applying the myth. 

My roommates understood this, and while I think it was a bit of a hard pill for them to swallow, for a moment they understood that institutional religion has value in that it is a pathway to receiving the truths behind the myth. I wonder if any of us will ever become a part of one of these religions.