Although I am not an atheist, I think I can answer some of your questions.
1: the article you read seems a little simplistic. Before the sacking of the Temple in 70AD Christianity was really just a sect of Judaism. However after this date the Christianity we all know and love started to form. There were two main reasons for this; the first was that the original Christians in Jerusalem were mostly dead. This left the Greek Christians with no connection to the Judaic roots of their new religion (none of them really understood the symbolism etc) and so they attached their own Greek imagery to their religion. This made it more accessible to them. Secondly, after 70AD, anti-semitic feeling was running high. This forced the Greek Christians to further disguise its Hebrew origins by attaching yet more Pagan imagery. And so Christianity developed into a separate religion from Judaism.
Added to this Christianity became steadily more political until a stage when it did become an effective 'crowd control' organisation. This further developed Christianity into a religion by attaching certain rules and traditions which made life easier for the ruling elite.
In conclusion, Christianity was formed from centuries of persecution, bloodshed and decite. Hundreds of different factors played their part in creating the largest religion in the world.
3: The bible game from no single source and was slowly compiled over a period of millennium. I think there are over 40 writers in the Protestant bible.
Hope this quickly compiled history helps
1: the article you read seems a little simplistic. Before the sacking of the Temple in 70AD Christianity was really just a sect of Judaism. However after this date the Christianity we all know and love started to form. There were two main reasons for this; the first was that the original Christians in Jerusalem were mostly dead. This left the Greek Christians with no connection to the Judaic roots of their new religion (none of them really understood the symbolism etc) and so they attached their own Greek imagery to their religion. This made it more accessible to them. Secondly, after 70AD, anti-semitic feeling was running high. This forced the Greek Christians to further disguise its Hebrew origins by attaching yet more Pagan imagery. And so Christianity developed into a separate religion from Judaism.
Added to this Christianity became steadily more political until a stage when it did become an effective 'crowd control' organisation. This further developed Christianity into a religion by attaching certain rules and traditions which made life easier for the ruling elite.
In conclusion, Christianity was formed from centuries of persecution, bloodshed and decite. Hundreds of different factors played their part in creating the largest religion in the world.
3: The bible game from no single source and was slowly compiled over a period of millennium. I think there are over 40 writers in the Protestant bible.
Hope this quickly compiled history helps
