Jesus Existed; Stop Saying He Didn't

You're making atheists and agnostics look ignorant

“All the dudes misplacing their excrement over Netflix’s Black Cleopatra have never said a fucking thing about white Jesus.”

I wrote/posted that on Facebook a while back and there were over a thousand comments. Several arguments broke out over proclamations that “At least Cleopatra was a real person.” In other words, some atheists and agnostics are committed to the idea that the founder of Christianity was about as real as Gandalf.

I am both an atheist and a historian. People who make such claims are almost certainly wrong, and their ignorance of Jesus having been a real person makes atheists / agnostics appear ignorant. People can believe what they wish, so long as you’re not using those beliefs as an excuse to harm others. Saying Jesus wasn’t a real dude isn’t anywhere near on par with denying women control over their own bodies or hating gay people because you imagine Jesus said so, but it is still a departure from reality that should not be permitted to go unquestioned.

Religion of all varieties has much to answer for; it has done irreparable harm to our species across areas and eras. Many historians are atheist or agnostic because they have studied history. Pulitzer Prize winning historians Will and Ariel Durant, who accepted that Jesus was a real person, asked the question “Does history support a belief in God?” In response they asserted “the answer must be a reluctant negative.” They reached this conclusion because history reveals “a natural selection of the fittest individuals and groups in a struggle wherein goodness receives no favors, misfortunes abound, and the final test is the ability to survive.”

In short, throughout history many have prayed for deliverance, and there is scant evidence any of those prayers were answered. If a god or gods exist, it seems they don’t want to get involved. And yet this is not about supernatural beings, but rather a mortal man who inspired the world’s largest religion.

Among historians, denying that Jesus existed is a fringe belief, but not so much in the general populace, because the general populace is fucking stupid. That’s a little harsh. Let’s amend that to “easily led astray.”

A 2019 YouGov poll revealed that 15% of Britons believe Jesus a fictional character. A 2021 poll in Australia had 22% of respondents saying nah that Jesus guy never actually existed. For the U.S. I couldn’t find data for denial of his existence, but 76% of Americans polled believe he existed as a historical figure. That’s significantly higher than in Australia, so a lot of those remaining 24% are likely “don’t know” as opposed to outright denying his historical legitimacy.

There is a minority of folks denying Christ’s existence because they haven’t studied it, or they believe the rare historian who proclaims Jesus a mythical figure without accepting what the vast majority of historians think on the subject. You can find medical doctors who are anti-vaccine, so it’s no surprise there are some historians who deny the evidence on the subject of Jesus.

Ninety-seven percent of “actively publishing climate scientists” agree that humans are causing global warming. If you agree with the other 3%, you are a fool. On a related note, Eric Meyers, a distinguished professor emeritus of Judaic studies at Duke University said, “Those who deny Jesus are like the deniers of climate change.” He also said, “I don’t know any mainstream scholar who doubts the historicity of Jesus. The details have been debated for centuries.”

What details are historically agreed upon? Not a lot, except that Jesus of Nazareth existed, was baptized by John the Baptist, and he pissed off some Jewish and Roman leaders with his teachings and that led to him being crucified on the orders of Roman Prefect Pontius Pilate. After his death, some of his disciples continued to spread his teachings and that led to the growth of Christianity, although the accuracy of what Jesus said and what ended up in the New Testament is anyone’s guess.

You’ll note that none of this is about him being a god or performing miracles.

Some of the more vehement deniers proclaim the lack of hard archeological evidence of his existence. This shows a lack of understanding of historical study, because it holds Jesus to a standard of proof beyond that of most anyone else in history. All but an infinitesimal number of people who existed left no archeological record, and Jesus didn’t become an Important Person until after his death. From an ancient history perspective, the evidence of his existence is overwhelming. And just FYI, oral history is a valid component of historical study; it is often used to support and fill gaps in the written record. Much of what we know of the world relies to varying degrees on oral history.

It wasn’t long after Jesus died that people were writing shit down about him. The led to the rapid growth of Christianity, which was pissing off the Roman Empire. If Jesus had never existed, then Rome would have certainly used that knowledge against Christians, saying, “Hey you fuckers just made that guy up” to quell the growth of this annoying new religion. But Ancient Romans never did that. The whole questioning of the existence of Jesus is a relatively new phenomenon. It began during the Age of Enlightenment, when questioning all sorts of accepted shit, for good or ill, was en vogue. The “Christ myth theory” saw a revival in the 1970s, then grew with the advent of internet conspiracists and bullshit documentarians.  

Note: It’s not a theory but rather a hypothesis, a failed one. It relies upon an argument from silence, a fallacy of weak induction which points to certain absences of evidence as the evidence itself. The hypothesis also distorts legitimate historical sources, warping it all into sensationalistic arguments for popular consumption.

There is an assload of evidence for Jesus having lived if you’re of a mind to look for it, and no I’m not talking about the stupid fucking Shroud of Turin. My goal here isn’t to convince you by detailing it all. Rather, you should save yourself the time and just believe the myriad experts who have spent years objectively pouring over the research to reach a consensus. You get vaccinated because experts say so, yes? You worry over lowering your carbon footprint because experts warn of climate change, right? I recently had surgery because a respected medical expert told me I really fucking needed it. If most experts whose job it is to study this shit say Jesus was a real dude who inspired the world’s largest religion, then it is wise to believe them instead of the fringe naysayers.

Why do people like to go on denialist tirades on social media? I can only guess, and that guess is that a lot of Christians fucking suck. Few have read the Bible and even fewer follow its teachings. When faced with their hatred and bigotry, it’s a reactionary behavior to respond with “Well, your savior never even fucking existed.” It is worth nothing that many of the proponents of the Christ myth hypothesis are incompetent researchers who are former fundamentalist Christians turned atheist who likely have an axe to grind. I am not a former Christian. I was fortunate to have not been raised with religion, and eventually defaulted toward “This is a bunch of bullshit.” And so, I feel I can examine this subject with objectivity.

Erroneously proclaiming Jesus a fictional character doesn’t win any online arguments. Not that anyone ever wins online arguments. But holy Jesus fuckfarts we should hold ourselves to a higher standard of evidence.

There is a LOT to call out about the BEHAVIOR of many Christians that is taking place RIGHT NOW. Spewing bullshit that proclaims Jesus as not having been real isn’t going to sway people to your side, because it’s easily shown as a delusional proclamation.

You can make far better arguments against the greed, misogyny, and bigotry that many Christians espouse.

Do that instead.

Have a Merry Probably Not Jesus’s Birthday. Buy my sweary history book ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY SH!T WENT DOWN. Makes a cool gift no matter what you believe.

And if you haven’t yet, please