A mythology is a set of shared stories that define a culture—its values, its productive metaphors, its identity. They may or may not be believed in as actually true—even when they are, they’re generally understood to have occurred in a place and time distinct from the culture’s current reality. But the point of a mythology is the relationship it establishes between community members, while the point of a religion is the relationship it establishes between its adherents and the god(s).