It's just stories.

I had this in my IM profile for a while. Joe liked it, so I'll share it with the world.

I was trying to explain to my wife the problem of Christian fundamentalism in America, in particular the efforts to install like-minded politicians into positions of power (like president) in order to reverse centuries of social and scientific progress. I told her the Judeo-Christian creation story and related it to the fight against teaching evolution, but she looked puzzled. So, I suggested she think of the Shinto creation myth, in which it is said that the god Izanagi and the goddess Izanami churned the sea with a jewel-encrusted spear, forming the islands of Japan from the drops of sea water that fell from the tip. She nodded, and then paused. Then she looked at me and said, in the way that you say something that is so obvious you're embarrassed you have to say it: "But it's just stories."