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> When the Mesopotamians were listening to the Epic of Gilgamesh, they were reading about the world as they thought it is. When people tell their kids about Sa
by fidotron 2y ago
> When the Mesopotamians were listening to the Epic of Gilgamesh, they were reading about the world as they thought it is.
When people tell their kids about Santa Claus is that because they believe he exists?
There are always credulous people, but even in highly religious communities you will find amazingly large numbers of people only there for the community and just going along with public displays of adherence to whatever the belief system is. “True believer” is a term for a good reason.
- tsimionescu 2y agoAbsolutely, I didn't mean to suggest that every single Mesopotamian thought that the Epic of Gilgamesh was the truth. But even looking at non-devout Christians today, I don't think many of them would call the Bible a work of fiction - they view it as something less than an accurate account of history, but not at all as fictional. I would bet that if you asked the majority of Christians, even the non-practicing ones, they'd believe Noah was a real person who really did worship God, and maybe even faced some kind of flood, and probably lived to an old age - even when they don't believe that he built an arch that literally housed two of every animal on Earth to traverse a global flood, or that he lived for 900+ years.