I'm fascinated by the similar patterns and deity types in apparently all origin mythology, particularly how they evolve and morph into present religions. I love the fables, the history and the power symbols used to fillc our common need to know and control our fates. So grateful to have science and humanism to help fill that, possibly inbred or DNA-carried, fear that makes us coil and coalesce into groups. Now we need science, humanity and good sense to coalesce rationally for the good of the species -- all species and the planet.

I read religious history
to find out How and Why we got in to this mess

I have always been fascinated by religious history. That’s actually probably how I moved from belief. Once you study real history you quickly see the fabled for what they are. That doesn’t stop the history from being fascinating though.
(BTW Ehrman is a personal FAVORITE!)

I'm a u.u and an agnostic. It's common for u.u 's to learn about other religious traditions. I don't buy into any religion, but they can shed light on the human condition if your bullshit detector is working properly.

Ooh! Me! I'm reading Easwaran's Bhagavad Gita currently. I have some recent comments about how much I appreciate religions--without buying into them. I enjoyed Armstrong's A Short History of Myth and Buddha--although I felt her characterizations of some key Buddhist concepts were off the mark.

I'm just interested in the dead ones. I play a lot of D&D.

Can't stand Reza, such an apologist. But Bart should be worth a read.

Is there a reason you’re reading books by these particular authors? Bart Ehrman is ok, but the other two I find to be quite unreliable and tend overlook quite a bit about the negative side of religion and religious history. They try to glamorize their subject matter in a sense and both push their own brand of personal pseudo-religion.

ive always been very interested in religion. i never remember a time where i believed any of them but i always found them fascinating. i never understood why some religions are called myths and some are not tho

Not a waste of time by any means. If one really want to have an opinion then must do diligence. May I recommend "God is not great" by Christopher Hitchens?

I used to be interested in the history and stories of religion. Now i'm more interested in things by Neil deGrasse Tyson (astrophysicist), and other scientists. The change in interest is primarily due to a change in intellectual 'appetite', in addition to non-belief.