Wikipedia commentary/Folklore, Myth, and Religion

A discussion begun on the folklore page.

Given that this discrepency in usage exists, and that it contains in it such fundamental unstated worldview assumptions, it is sometimes difficult to parse out the possible categories of folklore. Certainly, many practitioners of classic Judeo-Christian? Monotheisim?s are offended by the very notion that [UFO Abductee]?s might claim their own belief system as a religion on par with Catholic?ism or Islam. And it is difficult for even the most "objective" and dispassionate of observers to witness the actions of people like the [Heaven's Gate]? congregation and not discount their claims of a higher spiritual purpose. But it is frequently the case that Folklore, Religion, Myth and Cult all swirl together into an intellectual morass. Mormonism, even today, is viewed in certain circles in the same light that one might have viewed a member of [Jim Jones]?' [Peoples Church]?. And even more ambiguously, one might wonder at the call recently in the United Kingdom to have [Jedi Knight]? recognized on the census as an official religion (NB: the call succeeded since >1000 people stated that Jedi Knight was in fact their religion). Should [The Force]? be classified alongside Deuteronomy or [Little Red Riding Hood]?? And what fundamentally seperates [Philadelphia Experiment]? literature from The Book of Mormon?

everyone seems to be leaving out one of the contituent elements of religion - worship - as opposed to the content of the narrative. Not that there aren't religius practices which are engaged in alone, but 'religions' can be differentiated, if incompletely, from 'belief systems' by adding a description of practice. Now, of course, there are those who claim a belief system without DOING anything about it, and we can argue about whether or not they are members of a religion, but unless they DO something (public or not) I think of it as a 'belief system' rather than a religion. Do the Jedi Knights have worship services? They might well. In which case they may be considered a religion. Do they only have an annual conference? In which case they are a fan club who are deeply interested in a mythos. --MichaelTinkler