When we look at fairy tales, fables, they all try to teach us something--For example, Little Red Riding Hood tries to teach us to stay on the right side of life, The Boy who Cried Wolf teaches us not to lie, etc....What makes 'religion' better or more important than fairy tales and fables?

???

Nothing.  Religion is reality by consensus, so its value is only present due to how many people strongly believe in it.

If the majority of the world believed in the Flying Spaghetti Monster, we'd laugh at the thought of Jesus or Muhammad.

In a practical sense, religion mostly serves as a way to keep irrational people in line.  Sensible people are good just for the sake of being good, but less sensible people require the fear of eternal damnation to keep them behaving well.

Then again, religion is also used to justify some pretty bad behavior.

Anyway, religion also relieves people of the nagging fear of nonexistence after death.

Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich.

        -Napoleon Bonaparte 




Cat

When we look at fairy tales, fables, they all try to teach us something--For example, Little Red Riding Hood tries to teach us to stay on the right side of life, The Boy who Cried Wolf teaches us not to lie, etc....What makes 'religion' better or more important than fairy tales and fables?


Little Red Riding Hood is about something more particular...


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When we look at fairy tales, fables, they all try to teach us something--For example, Little Red Riding Hood tries to teach us to stay on the right side of life, The Boy who Cried Wolf teaches us not to lie, etc....What makes 'religion' better or more important than fairy tales and fables?


Uhhh dude, most of the morals in fairy tales came from men who were pretty religious.  If you've ever read a lot of the Grimm's fairy tales, they always mention God, prayer, or pious people.  So that sort of leads me to believe that fairy tales wouldn't have morals strewn all over without the influence of the authors' upbringing in a church setting.

Uhhh dude, most of the morals in fairy tales came from men who were pretty religious.  If you've ever read a lot of the Grimm's fairy tales, they always mention God, prayer, or pious people.  So that sort of leads me to believe that fairy tales wouldn't have morals strewn all over without the influence of the authors' upbringing in a church setting.


Similar tales were seeded in cultures world-wide going back to pre-Christian times in some cases.

Similar tales were seeded in cultures world-wide going back to pre-Christian times in some cases.


Oh, I know that.  I'm just saying that the better known fairy tales wouldn't have had morals or....well, a story in any case if the men hadn't leaned heavily on what they learned religious-wise.  The Brothers Grimm actually have a fairy tale about Adam and Eve cleaning up their children because God is coming to visit, but they hide all the ugly ones away or something.  I forget the rest of the story, but it's in the Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales.

Fables are just life lessons told up in a pretty story to make sure children mind. :D