Stories as Dogma

The very best stories in the collected wisdom of the human race have several important things in common:

• They always deal with important tribal mores, values and customs.
• They are frequently told as "children's stories" although the target is the parents and mentors in the audience. 
• Irony and frequently hyperbole are integral to the mnemonic.

The problem with these stories after they are collected into Holy Writ is that the irony and hyperbole is regarded as TRUTH™ and used by self-serving preachers to manipulate their followers in ways that would be abhorrent to the originators of the stories.