My pet theory is what I call 'The Hitch Effect' - I think Jesus Christ probably DID exist - actually the figure might be based on two or even more real people (*see end note) & he [or perhaps "they"] were a wandering Rabbi who gained some notoriety around the first century & the authorities didn't trust him so they nailed him up & that was the end of him. - But not in every sense...

Those who loved & respected him wouldn't let his 'spirit' die & would deny he is gone for good by saying 'He lives!' i.e. Lives on in their heart, but over the intervening decades before the New Testament gospels were written the Jesus story evolved from a mere metaphorical resurrection of his teachings to a myth that he himself physically not spiritually conquered death by resurrecting & this was a very powerful image which spread like wild fire among a downtrodden population of Jews in the Middle East back then.

The story also suited the powers that be because Jesus never said a single word against the inhumanity of life long ownership of people as personal property so they were very happy to see this 'meek shall inherit the Earth' philosophy promoted as well as the poor too. (This explains why even today the Chinese government are perfectly happy to see Christianity become popular as it keeps people docile by choice!) So it's a double whammy: The poor buy into the sop offered as a promise of a better life AFTER death & the rich & powerful love this idea because it suggests God says we should all be happy being slaves (& no where does the Buy Bull say a word against slavery - quite the opposite actually!)

So where does Hitch (Christopher Hitchens) fit in with all of this? Well Hitch was as you probably know, a very vocal anti-theist & a bit like Jesus, was much loved while he walked the Earth, He too was taken away from us far too early & so his wisdom [slightly lacking sometimes in my humble opinion] has also 'lived on' in many many quotes via the internet just as Jesus's quotes have via the gospels.

Now in the 21st century people tend not to interpret supernatural claims as out & out truths but back in the first century many people did & contrary to popular belief did so a lot of the time. People back then had no video footage & journalism to refer to & they actually didn't particularly care if a story was literally true only that it was a 'good yarn' i.e. A moving account which as far as they were concerned was as good as the real thing if there's no way to really know what's true or legend anyway. So Christianity grew from the same mentality that people like me & perhaps you too reflect - Keeping the word alive. Personally I love to quote Hitch again & again because he too was a skilled orator so I wan't to keep his 'spirit' alive but not by suggesting anything supernatural has happened.

Christians however do (or did back in the day) therefore they consciously or unconsciously concocted 'The Greatest Story Ever Told' & in a sense perhaps it is in as much that it's one story which so far has caught on with great success (32% of the world is some form of Christian).

• Of course none of this says anything at all about the resurrection of Christ being a factual event, just an inspiring metaphor. But interestingly it's perfectly possible that if there really was more than one person the story was based on it's plausible that a second Jesus (let's call him 'Christ' showed up after Jesus was executed & it's this other guy who created the belief that Jesus himself came back to life when in truth it was Christ who had never died anyway! Now I'm not claiming that this actually happened but if it's true that accounts of Christ's return can't be based on nothing at all (-which I really doubt, but bear with me...) isn't it far far more likely that if that's true then a case of mistaken identity is a much simpler explanation for the Jesus myth that's grown up about a magical resurrection? I'd say so!

Now tell me what YOU think probably / possibly happened about 2000 years ago.