Eudaimonist

Serious answer?

Religions contain both myths and rituals. Myths by themselves are only stories.

Starboy

A mythology is the ruins of a dead religion.

Starboy

Infidelettante

At some time in their history mythologies were someones religion. So the difference is that religions are active mythologies.

JT

philechat

Mythologies are stories that attempt to recount the origin of existence and mankind, and the events that lead to the present state of a given culture. I myself created several myths which in my opinion describe a different set of "truths" from those obtained from empirical methods (as Greeks would call logos).

Religion are systemized mythologies, or mythologies "acting out" with rituals, dramas, and theological speculations.

By the way, I also like Walter Kaufmann's definition: "Philosophy is poetry becoming self-critical, rituals poetry in action, religion poetry turning authoritarian."

Beetle

So, would there a difference then between ancienct Greek religion and ancient Greek mythology?

Personally, I've always thought of mythologies as religions that ran out of followers.

Ganymede

People don't get to suffer for all eternity for believing in the wrong myth

wateryTart

That's what I thought too.

Joyous

One of the statements that swung me fully to atheism was something like "Religion is whatever myth people believe in right now."