Did Jesus exist at all?

[robvalue]

Whether Jesus existed or not is irrelevant to the success of the religion. Even today, all that is required is belief that he existed. (And did a load of magic tricks.) That's all it takes. Whether that belief is true makes no difference, once the person has become convinced. People can then have a relationship with their own imagination, and convince themselves it's Jesus.

And if people think the religion originally dominated because of its virtues, or because of Jesus being real, or because of attributes of Jesus, they need to learn some history.