One of the most tiresome misconceptions of the cynic in the street is his notion of “myth”.
He uses the word “myth” to mean “useless fairy tale.” For him a myth is a fantasy, a fable or a fanciful fiction. At best it is a harmless children’s story. It might be a pretend story told for a religious purpose or at worst it is an intentional fabrication devised to hoodwink the gullible.
The fact that some ancient fanciful stories are called myths and have a religious dimension make the definition of myth even more complex and therefore more easily misunderstood. Because ancient Greeks and Romans told stories about Zeus and Jupiter, and because they were fantasy stories, and because Zeus and Jupiter were gods, the cynic in the street concludes that all stories from ancient times that feature the supernatural must also be fanciful old time stories that may be somewhat entertaining, but which are all make believe.
The Worthless Myth
To the scientific man a myth is a curious, but worthless cultural artifact from a superstitious age. The idea of the worthlessness of myth is rooted in the work of several academics from the turn of the twentieth century. The Englishman, E.B. Tylor was considered the father of cultural evolutionism. He considered myth and primitive religion to be a failed attempt at science.