(February 18, 2009 at 10:36 pm)EvidenceVsFaith Wrote: Surely its not THAT improbable that Jesus of the bible could have been stolen from some bloke who really existed.
OTOH it's not specifically necessary to have a real person at the root of the myth and the commonalities with pre-existing religions suggests that aspects (if not the whole character) is based on other myths rather than any single real person.
I take the non-existent Jesus stance for several reasons ... first the lack of specific evidence (no direct eye-witness accounts, several accounts increasingly becoming viewed as later interpolations), the commonalities mentioned above and that taking the stance that I will not accept the literal existence of Jesus Christ without reasonable evidence creates a problem for debating theists in the sense that they either have to prove it or we agree to move past that based on an assumptive existence which (of course) I can always refer back to at a later stage. It also tends to wind theists up and that can't be a bad thing
Kyu
Angry Atheism
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Where those who are hacked off with the stupidity of irrational belief can vent their feelings!
Come over to the dark side, we have cookies!
Kyuuketsuki, AngryAtheism Owner & Administrator
