Mythology is most often used to describe the archaic religions of ancient societies, such as Roman Mythology, Greek Mythology, and Norse Mythology. However, it is important to keep in mind that while some may view the Norse pantheon as mere fable, others may hold it as a religion.
By extension, modern anti-religionists sometimes regard the stories surrounding modern religions like Christianity and Islam as no more than a collection of myths. However it arguable that each modern religion has a body of myths that have developed in addition to scriptures and [Christain Mythology]? describes these additional mythic elements.
An alternate reading of the term myth is to see it on a continuum of societal acceptance that starts at Religion, moves to Mythology and ends at Folklore. That is, if a collection of stories comprise the dominant beliefs of the time, then it is usually honored with the term Religion (e.g. Christianity). If a collection belongs to a tradition outside the scope of the dominant beliefe system, but comes from a society admired by the dominant belief system, then it is a Mythology (e.g Greek Mythology). At the end of the spectrum, if a collection of stories belongs to a group that is on the outs with the dominant belief structure, it is kindly referred to as folklore or a folk tradition (e.g. Urban legend or witchcraft)... or not so kindly it is called Heresy? or a cult (e.g. Cathars?, Moonies or conspiracy theory). Within that, we can see that the basic unit is the same: a collection of stories. Sometimes the stories explain things, sometimes they are heroic, sometimes they convey secular lore and sometimes they have a moral component.
Although many people think that a mythology must be old, it does not have to be so. Thus, for example, television and book series like Star Trek and Tarzan have strong mythological aspects, that sometimes develop into deep and intricate philosophical systems. An excellent example of such a mythology is that developed by J. R. R. Tolkien in The Silmarillion and the Lord of the Rings.
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