“by the treat of eternal damnation…”
should read “by the threat of eternal damnation…”

To err is human, to forgive divine…
Neither one is company policy…

OK, you win, Jesus of Nazareth existed. He existed as a man. Jesus was a consequence of the evolution of life. Ironic, isn’t it?

…that there are some psychotic people that call themselves messiahs does not bother me (a lot), what bothers and scares me is that there are some gullible people (sometimes in great numbers) that do believe in their beliefs. Let’s not forget Jim Jones, David Koresh, Marshal Applewhite, and a hundred others. Granted, maybe they didn’t call themselves messiahs, but they were religious leaders with great charisma. That is one of the points that Mr. Maher is addressing. You can’t possibly disregard that point, the abuse of the power of religion, by some charismatic “religulous” leaders, onto gullible people, by the treat of eternal damnation…

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I see it all the time, fellow atheists trying to explain why god does not exist, without much success. Lets do it the other way, I want to see (read a theist explain why not the Big Bang.

I can’t talk much about evolution, I’m not a life sciences person, but I can talk about the theorized origin of the Universe. I would like to read your comments on why The Theory of The Big Bang is incorrect.

I am not trying to portrait myself taller than you Sir, rather, if you are going to affirm (by association) that god created the universe, then explain why not the Big Bang, and why not evolution, for that matter. Please don’t say because it is not in the bible.

With all due respect,

An atheist Physicist.

p.s. Granted, the latter part of this letter is off topic, forgive me please. But in the grand scheme of things, the friendly argument is over science OR religion, isn’t it?

Thank you.

If you want to claim gravity is just a silly theory because it’s not static, that’s your thing. But to say evolution is just a theory as though that is enough to discount mountains of evidence demonstrating its existence is worse than anything Bill did in this film.

Again, I am not convinced that Josephus is an example because the validity and accuracy of his mention of Jesus is suspected to be tampered, not to mention that he never met Jesus.

On Hitler, why do I believe he exists? Because there are unbiased accounts of his existence accompanied by photographs and films. There are records that he existed by his contemporaries.

Lets make this fun, however, and compare evidence between Julius Caesar and Jesus Christ. I believe Caesar existed because there is strong evidence for his existence. He was Caesar, made statues, coins, and left a few pieces of written work that he himself wrote. In addition, there are many accounts of his existence from his contemporaries, people who actually have seen him or were alive when he existed. Individuals such as Marcus Tullius Cicero, Gaius Sallustius Crispus (Sallust), Gaius Valerius Catullus, and Gaius Asinius Pollio. They also weren’t invested in the idea of Julius Caesar, in other words, they weren’t preaching Caesar’s divinity as a basis for a religion. Also note, I am not using the argument that the existence of the Roman Empire is evidence that Julius Caesar existed.

I have looked up Jesus on the internet, encyclopedia, etc., but I am still not convinced he existed. In the process, I have also looked at other religious figures such as Zeus, the Buddha, Thor, and Shiva and found them all, does that mean they also existed? Using your argument, yes.

“The shear amount of evidence pointing to Jesus’ existence is greater than any other historical figure of old.”

If there is a lot of evidence, then why are they only limited to religious and non-contemporary sources?

I will admit, however, that I do have bias, but I am trying to approach this situation as objectively as possible. I am merely looking for evidence besides holy texts. If there are so many, why can’t I find them? That being said, you should also approach this with as little bias as possible. Obviously you have bias as well, albeit on the opposite side of the argument. In your own words, you are operating from a presupposition that “those holy texts are true because not only was I raised on the tenet that they are true, but religious leaders have also said that those texts are true, and saying otherwise is blasphemous.”

Also, I mean everything I say with the most respect. I am looking at your evidence but fail to see their significance or accuracy. Are you putting “faith” in your evidence?

Dead, I don’t know what else to tell you. You’re dismissing historically valid texts and letters that were written very near to the time of Jesus’ life simply because they were written by people of faith.

You’re dismissing the Talmud because it’s a “holy text” – even though it was written by the enemies of Jesus (Jews) who would have LOVED to have made people believe He never existed. But they didn’t go that route, because too many people were eyewittnesses of Jesus’ life and ministry. Yes the Talmud is a holy text, but those who wrote it DO NOT LIKE THE NEW TESTAMENT. They believe the NT to be heresy, would have done anything to keep people from believing it, yet even they admit Jesus existed, could perform miracles, and had many followers.

You’re dismissing Josephus because he was born in 37 AD – a short four years after the death of Jesus. That doesn’t make sense, because Josephus grew up in a Jewish community around thousands and thousands of people who were alive at the time of Jesus’ ministry. If Jesus hadn’t existed, don’t you think it would have been common knowledge among the Jewish peoples? You’re also dismissing the fact that Josephus was a serious, trained historian whose entire job was to check up on the facts of history. He did this for the nation of Rome – the world’s superpower of the time. Josephus knew what he was doing – it was his life. I’m sure you believe Hitler existed. Why? You weren’t alive when he was in power, were you? Probably not. In fact, I’m willing to bet your birth is even further removed from the death of Hitler than four years, but guess what – that doesn’t matter. You know he existed because thousands and thousands of eyewitnesses are still alive today. You can say he existed because you’re relying on the testimony of others. If you were to say, “Hitler existed,” and write it down it would be silly for someone else to come up to you and say your statement is invalid because you were born a few years after his death. The same is true of Josephus and Jesus.

Also, the earliest letters that make up today’s New Testament began circulating widely in the early 60s. Again, thousands of people who were eyewitnesses to the ministry of Jesus were still alive. If he’d never existed, where is the historical record of the uprising against this new movement based on His non-existence?

If you’re going to ignore valid evidence because it points to Jesus and choose to believe He never existed no matter what, then there’s probably nothing I can say to you to make a difference.

Go look up Jesus in an encyclopedia. He’s listed because He existed. Any objective historian will tell you that. Those that say He never did do so because they don’t view the “holy texts” as valid historical documents because they talk about things like people performing miracles (if God is real, don’t you think He could give people the power to perform miracles?).

The shear amount of evidence pointing to Jesus’ existence is greater than any other historical figure of old.

You’re entering into your investigation with a bias, and are operating from a presupposition that “those texts can’t be true because of the other things they contain.”

Dead, with all due respect, that’s not an honest look at the evidence.

CHRISTians existed because CHRIST existed”.

Following that reasoning, all the gods of all the religions and cultures that have ever existed must be real, because a bunch of people have said they were real. A bunch of people have said the world was flat, too, but we’re pretty sure in this day and age that it isn’t. I’m sorry, but the fact that Christians exist does not prove much of anything other than that Christians exist. Did something happen to cause the formation of Christianity as a religion? Absolutely. But the belief in the divinity of Christ and even the existence of God is just that – belief. It’s not a proven fact, or even well-supported theory.