Richard Carrier - The Hero Savior Analogy

[Mudhammam]

But with most it doesn't matter.  Only with religious figures do modern followers insist that everyone follow the supposed dictates of these dusty old figures.  That forces the question of whether or not there ever was a jesus, a moses, a mohammed, a zoroaster, a zeus.  It doesn't really matter if Imhotep built the Step Pyramid.  It still exists whoever built it.

I agree, but unlike the religious who arbitrarily hold their sacred texts and figures to some bizarre standard, the historical questions surrounding ordinary aspects of their biographies should not be treated differently than when examining secular figures whose lives are shrouded in controversy, mystery, or by the pious exultation of a sect or party.