[Thor]

Yeah with Richard you get the feeling he's taken up a premise that he's married to, and works with that assumption when approaching the question. So in a sense he's doing what he so often criticizes with his counterparts, ultimately being slightly dogmatic in his approach to the question of Jesus historicity.

I think the point you have made about how could Christianity have started without the Jesus figure, seems highly improbable all things considering. Again, I claim a great deal of ignorance on the subject matter, you and Carrier spend a great amount of time and have a lot more knowledge than I, so for me its not just a question of your argument makes more sense to me, but also that I feel totally unqualified to have a strong opinion on the subject.

But ultimately to me the question of if Jesus was indeed a real historical figure does not concern me much, my problems lie in the dogma and the actions of religious followers not so much that they hold beliefs in a higher power.