As a Darwinist Evolutionary (which rides quite happily with my persona as a Kropotkinist Revolutionary!) I naturally repudiate the reality of all of these creation-myths.
However, their prevalence in so many belief systems makes it likely, at the very least, that there is a deep need among humankind for some sort of explanation of Life, the Universe, etc etc which cannot be satisfied with an answer like "42".
You ask "What is The Fall," Inselpeter: I don't believe that there actually was one, but that there is a need to believe that there was once something, which we have now lost, that was better than the vale of tears and anguish in which we have arrived, in order that we may strive to recreate that primordial age of innocence and peace.
If that is what it takes to drive us along the road towards such a goal, then I would subscribe to it.
But the cynic in me does wonder if we - the human race - could ever agree on what constitutes an "Age of Innocenec and Peace."
