Atheists being asked about the existence of Jesus

[Angrboda]

You're being purposely obtuse. Obviously I meant that they would not care about Jesus in the way they do if he were merely a historical man. You took what I said and interpreted it very literally in order to make a contrarian point. Additionally, what you said is not even true. We don't care about Socrates and Nietzsche and so on because they were merely historical people. They weren't. They were exceptional people, and that is why we care about them, not because they were historical. So you're doubly wrong.

*shrug* I think you're being needlessly defensive. In addition to which, your point about Socrates and Nietzsche is misplaced. The case can be made (although you don't have to agree with it, I certainly don't) that Jesus was an exceptional person. This, according to what you just said, would make him worth caring about.

You also said 'If Jesus wasn't a miracle man and God, then he's not worth remembering.' Isn't this rather a case of special pleading? Socrates wasn't a miracle man and Nietzsche wasn't God, but we find both of them worth remembering, so why not Jesus?

Let's suppose, just for the sake of argument, that Jesus was an historical figure, but that he never worked a miracle and wasn't in the least sense divine. He (with more than a little help from Paul) founded what was to become a world religion that has had a staggering impact on human civilization. Doesn't that make him worth remembering?

Lastly, I reject the label 'contrarian'. I can only respond to what you said, not to what you meant.

Boru

Whether Jesus was exceptional is a different argument. I said "if Jesus was just a man," he wouldn't be worth remembering. You're simply choosing to ignore context to make a point. Choosing to ignore what I wrote simply to score points sounds pretty contrarian to me.