Testimony is Evidence

[Astreja]

I'm perfectly capable of believing that the 3 billion or so Christians throughout history were ALL deluded, ALL misinterpreting their experiences, and that NONE could have got direct corroboration of observations that I would value enough to decide to accept the God idea in general, or the Christian Jesus-as-God idea in specific.

I'm also quite capable of believing this.  I sincerely believe that they were all deluded, just passing the same unsubstantiated claims down the line from generation to generation (and occasionally disagreeing enough with one another to splinter into rival sects).

3 billion people can indeed be wrong.  High numbers of adherents do not obviate the need to support each and every extraordinary claim individually, and accept or reject each one on its own merits.  Therein lies the danger of being a scriptural literalist:  It only takes one debunked claim to taint the whole package.