I don't understand why the truth about Jesus the man could possibly matter to the God-Science debate. That is, unless there are scientists who take seriously the idea that Jesus was a god rather than an ordinary man (ordinary in the biological sense). That Jesus was not God is, in my understanding, a logical fact.

On the other hand, the fact that Jesus the God is obviously a fabrication doesn't, again for purely logical reasons, necessarily make any religious idea false. It is too short-sighted to assume that religion has no value at all when so many people claim it does. What are they doing, lying? If they claim they live better, happier lives because of religion, who can possibly claim that religion has no value and contains no truths? Can anyone claim that, for instance, the Christian idea that people should be kind to each other is not truth because the basic premises of Christianity are invalid?

Atheists seem to be in a desperate hurry to invalidate all of religion by attacking its weaker points. What they don't realize is that that strategy has been tried for thousands of years and always failed. Of course in modern times we have the strong weapon of science but that has also been proved ineffective.

If society is to successfully get rid of religion then the psychological role of religion must be fully understood. I don't see that happening in the near future though, not because religion can't be understood but because most psychologists are atheists and therefore ignorant (by sheer lack of personal experience) of the influence of religious ideas on thought processes.

• 99.9% of people are not educated about nature. - alexander - April 11, 2001 - 16:33 UTC
  • And the remaining 0.1% understand less than 1& of the universe - yanniru - April 12, 2001 - 11:49 UTC
• The nonhistoricity of Jesus not necessary for atheism - johnpowell - April 11, 2001 - 18:03 UTC
  • You make it seem like it is - aurino - April 11, 2001 - 18:56 UTC
    • Who am I trying to convince? Myself first. - johnpowell - April 12, 2001 - 18:35 UTC
    • Who am I trying to convince? Thoughtful others - johnpowell - April 12, 2001 - 18:39 UTC
    • The Golden Rule. - johnpowell - April 12, 2001 - 19:13 UTC
    • Why attack the historicity of Jesus? - johnpowell - April 12, 2001 - 19:38 UTC
    • The old battle between a- and theism. - johnpowell - April 12, 2001 - 19:51 UTC