According to Buddhism and evolutionary psychology, our "selves" are fictions! The rabbithole goes further and further...

IF Jesus existed, he certainly was not the "son of God" and he certainly wasn't the product of immaculate conception. I figure he was probably a illusionist, his craft well ahead of its time, and he used the whole divine connection thing as part of his spiel.

He may have gotten in trouble with the Romans and to escape punishment used his skills as an illusionist to fake his own death -- including the ascension to heaven. Where he ended up, when and where he died, etc. is anyone's guess.

Yuval Noah Harari captures this beautifully in his book "Sapiens" - one of the most important books I have ever read. Basically, everything is created as a means of control of the billions of humans on earth. What is "America?" It's a fiction - it only exists because millions of people believe it exists. If America were to become part of Russia, the same people would still exists, in the same places, believing the same things. Religions, governments and corporations are basically all just pieces of paper that people believe in.

To control people to make money.

I, for one, believe Jesus Christ did exist. He was a man who saw many wrongs and hypocrises in the world and wanted to be a leader for change. The problem was he got caught up in his own hype, didn't know how to make a strategic retreat in the face of both Caiphas' and Pontius Pilate's political needs, and was killed because of it.

Son of god, no. Resurrected, no. At the same time, how can anyone blame Jesus for how his teachings were twisted and contorted after his death, by everyone from Paul forward?

I agree with you, and as I mentioned before I was stunned at about age 4 when I deduced by myself that Santa was bullshit!! I was puzzled as to why I was lied to, and I think my parents comment was that it was all in good fun. Okay so when I lie later in life it was all just good fun..

Humans are good at getting together and creating Gods and religion. I am sure it goes back to evolution. Perhaps it was a good survival mechanism, those of religion were more socially cohesive? Man didn't suddenly start beleiving in Gods, it would have been a slow process. Thats probably why it is so damn hard to shake!