Valiant attempts to make sense of nonsense.

[Zzyzx]

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Most of us realize that much of what was written in ancient times is now known to be non-nonsensical – magical flying carpets, winged horses, dragons, flat Earth, geocentric solar system, droughts and floods caused by supernatural entities, etc.

However, when such tales are couched in religious terms, many still believe them – long dead bodies coming back to life, people 'ascending' (levitating) into the sky, the Earth flooded 'to tops of mountains', virgins giving birth, Earth ceasing rotation ('sun stood still'), 'eternal life' in 'heaven', staffs turning into snakes, talking snakes and donkeys, etc.

Defense of such beliefs often takes the form of 'You can't prove it didn't happen' – as though that justifies belief in (and promotion of) nonsensical notions. No one can prove that invisible, undetectable unicorns do not exist – OR any of the thousands of proposed invisible, undetectable 'gods'.

Another defense, 'The stories may not be literally true accounts but they tell important lessons', is not much better. Although ancients may have needed fanciful tales as 'lessons', modern educated, literate, informed people can be taught important lessons without the baggage of fanciful tales.

Belief that ancient tales, myths, legends are true would be harmless IF such beliefs did not preclude understanding and accepting what has been learned about our environment during the past few centuries – such as the heliocentric solar system – and did not hinder scientific research into matters considered 'religiously sensitive'.