David.
Wherever the purely mythological content demands reverence, it is an obstacle.
If it demands anything, it is respect. Iagree that there is no no need for reverence.
Inherent in this was the image of an angry man in the sky, an inescapable mythical character that none of us would be pleased to call "dad."
That is only the Abrahamic concept of god which is in any case a conflation of several aspects or levels of the divine. Some of the Gnostic groups were scathing about this labelling Him as an incompetent psychopath. (I'm reminded of Michael Palin in one of the Python films: 'Oh Lord, smite them, in thy mercy'.)
In some traditions/versions of the Ancient Wisdom what we (generally speaking) call 'god' is part of Creation and doesn't appear until about the 3rd step.
The Egyptians used the word neter for what we moderns call a god.
To me, it is awe-inspiring to realize that the core teachings of Jesus or the Buddha (however one might view historical origins or contexts) are virtually free from mythology
The core teachings of Jesus (himself a mythological figure -the is no historical record of such a person (outside of much later xtian writings). Christ = christos - annointed one, or Enlightened one = a buddha. The core teachings are those of the Ancient Wisdom. JC used parables (analogy). In the Gospel of Mark, for example, he explicitly tells the disciples that for the masses faith is enough and he will teach them in parables. But to the disciples he will give the key to the parable and teach them the true or inner meaning.
This is how the Ancient Wisdom have been handed down throughout history. That is what the, for example, Greek Mystery traditions were about (Eleusinian, Orphic, etc). These institutions (closed down by the xtians) were also known as Mystery Schools - knowledge was taught in them. They were not cults - certainly not in the modern sense of the word. Thales, Pythagoras and Plato, to name but three, were all initiated into the Greek mysteries and they all later went to study in the Egyptian mysteries. Socrates, according to my sources, was invited to be intitiated into one of the Greek schools but declined because one of the rules was that there were some some things which couldn't be revealed to the masses. Socrates believed that knowledge should be free and freely available to everyone. (This is just one of the reasons why he is my all time personal hero).
If you check out the etymology of the word myth you will find it has little to do with the content of a story, eg. it is not necessarily about matters divine. It is more to do with a type of literary format, if you will.
The Dalai Lama's teachings do not originate with the Dalai Lama (as I'm sure he would be the first to acknowledge). What he is teaching is his interpretation of a body of recieved knowledge.
Given that there is only the Eternal Now then no 'human' has or will ever come up with anything original. All ideas, thoughts etc, have existed in potentio since the moment of creation. All we do is 'remember' (you have to go 'online' to access the data - or to stretch the analogy to breaking point, we down here are using 'dial-up' (brain) when with a bit of patience and practice, we can use (wireless) broadband (mind) and connect to the UWW (Universe Wide Web)).
I expect that arc-us will appreciate that last bit more than you David. ;))
In the words of U.G. Krishnamurti: 'you are just the thought of a thought'.