Fundamentalist myth has acquired the character of law, becoming invisible as myth

Evidence

Although the fundamentalist (asu¯li) form of Islamic thought that prevails today is itself mythic, he argues, it is a form of myth that has acquired for believers the character of law—of commandment—and so is not apparent to them as myth. For Adonis myth is plural, even anarchic, while the religious law is monotheistic and totalitarian. In marking the unconscious truth of contemporary religious discourse, myth clearly has a very different function from the one modernist European poets give it when they use it to ground secular experience. — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 278 (#expands, via linked claim)

Misconceptions about law and the courts, as much as lack of information, prevent a full understanding of the role of courts in the United States. Often these misconceptions are half-truths, capturing part—but only part—of the reality of law and courts. Two common misconceptions are that law is a body of established rules that govern behavior and that judicial decisions on important policy issues resolve those issues. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 186 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Patriarchal societies deploy myths deliberately to impose their laws — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 666; Fundamentalist Islamic myth operates as commanding law invisible as myth — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular:…, 278; Common folk views of law overstate its certainty and finality — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 186 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Fundamentalist Islamic myth operates as commanding law invisible as myth #expands (0.98) — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 278
• Common folk views of law overstate its certainty and finality #complicates (0.72) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 186