I maintain that there are different standards of evidence to establish demigods and epic heroes of folklore as real people of history as opposed to otherwise ordinary people who were accomplished generals, leaders, poets, philosophers, etc.
With the former, there is a known process by which flights of fancy and parables are transformed into "true stories". Even in today's information age, where debunking urban legends is as easy as accessing snopes, glurge stories still circulate about the very same information highway. With a religious icon in particular, you have a powerful organization with a strong vested interest in manufacturing relics and reworking history to their advantage. Furthermore, the Catholic Church, which dominated Rome in her last century, had the means, motive and opportunity to forge and has an established history of deception. Additionally, problems of interpolation and pseudo-epigraphy abounded with religious texts during that time.
This is why "oh yeah, well what about Socrates, do you deny him too?" argument fall flat. The same process of folklore isn't at work to conjure an "epic" philosopher.
With the former, there is a known process by which flights of fancy and parables are transformed into "true stories". Even in today's information age, where debunking urban legends is as easy as accessing snopes, glurge stories still circulate about the very same information highway. With a religious icon in particular, you have a powerful organization with a strong vested interest in manufacturing relics and reworking history to their advantage. Furthermore, the Catholic Church, which dominated Rome in her last century, had the means, motive and opportunity to forge and has an established history of deception. Additionally, problems of interpolation and pseudo-epigraphy abounded with religious texts during that time.
This is why "oh yeah, well what about Socrates, do you deny him too?" argument fall flat. The same process of folklore isn't at work to conjure an "epic" philosopher.
Atheist Forums Hall of Shame:
"The trinity can be equated to having your cake and eating it too."
... -Lucent, trying to defend the Trinity concept
"(Yahweh's) actions are good because (Yahweh) is the ultimate standard of goodness. That’s not begging the question"
... -Statler Waldorf, Christian apologist
"The trinity can be equated to having your cake and eating it too."
... -Lucent, trying to defend the Trinity concept
"(Yahweh's) actions are good because (Yahweh) is the ultimate standard of goodness. That’s not begging the question"
... -Statler Waldorf, Christian apologist
