I'm an atheist. How could a palestinian/jewish man who maybe lived more than 2,000 years ago possibly be important to me?

I don't think he ever existed. There were a lot of stories cobbled together to form the Jesus of the Bible. I've read a lot about it, and listened to a lot of lectures on it. Is it a core belief? No, it doesn't matter to me any more than whether Spider-Man existed. It's just my opinion that he was invented over the years of story telling. Just like the things that happened when I was a teenager. When I get together with old friends from back then, the stories get bigger with each telling.

It is not important if he existed r not. One of the things that started my questioning was a phase of reading Egyptian mythology. Osiris seemed to have a lifestyle similar to Jesus. I tried to discuss this with a nun. That didnt go far but I kept reading.
I didnt get the Unitarian Sunday School but when I left the Catholic CHurch I started to go to the Unitarian CHurch mostly the LRY youth group. Fun times

I’m one of those people who have spent way too much time on the question. I read books and watched debates by Carrier, Ehrman, Fitzgerald, Price and to me the myth theory is going to win out. I wouldn’t argue the point though as I really don’t know.

No, it's not important to me. Some of the ideas "he" talked about are pretty useful I think, but whether he was historical or allegorical is not. The reason I suspect he was the latter is that very similar characters existed in mythologies stretching thousands of years before the first century.

I find Christianity to be a completely borrowed religion taking in elements from all of the previously existing religions for a single composition. Whether he did or did not exist doesn't matter, Christianity, on the other hand, has been responsible for a whole lot of division and atrocities toward others who don't fall in line!

Can't say that I've ever lost any sleep over this .

I used to think that the stories were based on a real person. Then I read David Fitzgerald's book "Nailed: Ten Christian Myths that Show Jesus Never Existed" and the follow up "Jesus: Mything in Action" Now I'm not convinced that he existed. At best I think that the character was based on several individuals, and older myths.

It is not important if he did or didn't exist (personally I think he did not exist) but that soooo much rubbish has been attributed to his name. It's all lies whether he existed or not.

No because if he did exist he was just a man...nothing special.

Is not important to me that he was ever alive... but I don't think he was son of god because I don't believe in god. You should be able to live your life with what you believe and forget the worries. Be comfortable with yourself as you are and if you are not comfortable find what will make you comfortable. My take.

The whole story is a kind of joke. His mum did not own up who the father was. He was not loved by his contemporaries. The religion is based on his sacrifice to save all our sins. If he really was the son of some god he would have known this sacrifice was temporary, therefore not, in reality, a big deal. Then he died and got better, no real sacrifice? If he was just a normal preacher I am sure the Romans could have fixed it so he could have feigned death. It is interesting there is little to no contemporary references to him outside of the bible for many years after his supposed crucifixion?

history taught us you can make up a lot of things and somebody will believe it. Example I was a communicator in the navy RM/IT. One night while underway at our Midnight Meal (MidRats), I told one lie (as a gag, nothing else) after getting off watch while eating my meal at midnite and I went to sleep. The next morning I woke up and even the Captain knew the "lie". I was in the middle of a North Atlantic Cruise on an Amphib Ship with Marines Gear... Howitzer Company, Truck Company, M-60 Tanks, Marines, etc... Our situation was that we were two or three days from a liberty port in Amsterdam. Marked in Everybody's Calendar as the Highlight of the Cruise.... THE LIE WAS.... I said that WE WERE NOT GOING TO AMSTERDAM... Something happened in the Middle East and in the morning we were getting yellow sand paint to re-paint all the marine gear instead of winter camouflage and we will be on our way. I went to sleep... Next morning... The captain called me on his stateroom and called me the "Lebanon Kid" while smiling and asked me you only told one person. He asked... "are you a psychic?" You have to understand you RM's are "the only ones" in the whole ship first to know everything that concern the ship. They will believe anything you said... now the other side of the lie and what I found funny... We are not going to Amsterdam, last night while you slept we encounter a winter storm in the fiords of Norway that flooded and damaged the Bow Ramp Machinery Room to the point that we have to do emergency repairs in Rota Spain because Portsmouth UK couldn't have us due their ships returning for repairs during the Falkland Islands war. The next time "Lebanon Kid" you feel like lying or dreaming about a liberty port... CHECK WITH ME FIRST... YOU HAVE A WHOLE CREW THAT WILL LIKE TO THROW YOU OVERBOARD AND SAD THING IS YOU WERE RIGHT ON THE IMMEDIATE OUTCOME OF YOUR LIE. In other words I have no idea if the jesus guy ever existed or was promoted during the lies or truths about him. Never told another lie of that Magnitude or Scope on my following 18 years in the Navy.

I think he was a conflated figure meaning that his individual characteristics all came from different heroes and combined into one super hero. Is it important that he actually existed? Yes, it would make religion 'real'. As it stands, now, it's mythology just like the Greeks, Mesopotamia, Assyrians, and Egyptians.

It is irrelevant to me whether he existed or not but, I suspect he, she or it is the compilation of a number of individual radical jewish rabbis in the time of the Roman occupation.

There is not one shred of evidence that he did exist...

He existed, at least that's what I believe. And if you're Christian, then yes it's crucial that he did the things the books say he did, it's the crux of the entire belief system. Otherwise, not really no, what he tried to teach I feel should be more important that what he did, but that's just my opinion looking from the outside in on religion.

No, it’s not. I gather The Quran mentions him but I don’t hold that book in much esteem, either. What’s it matter if he wasn’t a divine being, though? No more than what people will make of me in a thousand years.

i wish it was irrelevant

I've stopped arguing whether or not Jesus exists. I think to say that he didn't exist is to tap into the same mentality that Christians have when they insist he does. Most bible scholars believe a man named Jesus existed.

Who he was, on the other hand, that's where the debate really needs to happen. I think most scholars are sure that he was a peasant, probably from Nazareth, and his birth was suspect. The rest of what's said about him has been filtered through Paul and his attempt to convert Jesus into some Hellenistic anti-Jewish deity.

But if you read his Manifesto (the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew), it's some pretty amazing stuff. I don't think that was Jesus who said those things, though.

I have read about the historic Jesus quite a bit and come to just about the same conclusion as you.
He did exist ,we do have as much evidence that he did as for almost anyome else in history. When you look into it many characters we believe existed historically we do with so far less written about them.
Reasons for his existance

1. Most Bilblical scholars now believe he did ,whether believers on non believers.
   2.The gospels are considered evidence by scholars ,though it may be added they do not represent the historical Jesus more a mythology of him.
2. There are later historic accounts of him ,though they are few and far between but there are no contemporary accounts in Jesus' own lifetime. Seems he made no major impact in his liftetime,though he obviously has in death.
3. Paul's own letters. Most of Pauls letters in the NT are considered genuine(not all)Depsite the fact Paul never met Jesus he does give accounts of others who met Jesus or knew about him.He also claims to have met what he calls the "3 pillars of the Jerusalem Church" ,Peter ,James and John several times.
4. There are other gospels that describe Jesus and what he said ,these are considered apocryphal by the Church and never became holy canon. Despite this they were writtten by early Jesus sects. One in particlar was written about the same time as Paul's letters and before all the 4 major synoptic gospels(Mark,Matthew,Luke,John)this was the gospel of Thomas, as in doubting Thomas. This gives a list of sayings of Jesus but no narrative story of his life (no birth story no resurrection).Another is by Mary,who clains to be Jesus favourite disciple and also Judas claiming to be another of Jesus' inner trusted circle. It is odd that these two endedd up as villains in the NT,one as a doubter and the other a traitor and Mary is later villifed as a prostitute by the Church,draw your own conclusions.
   6..There is also believed to be a missing gospel called "Q" that is a list of Jesus sayings. It no longer exists but many scholars agree that it most likely did and that the synoptic gospels in the Bible all had access to them when they wrote their accounts.

So Jesus had many seperate groups of follwers each with their own traditions and gospels ,it would be almost impossible for him to be a total figment of so many varied traditions so soon after his death.

If Jesus existed, he sounds like a fine chap. Hitchens, Dawkins et al. are also fine chaps.

They have all made us think about our place in this world. The first is a god. The others have advanced critical thinking and/or science and are labelled as heretics. How f*cked up is that?

As a U.U / agnostic I believe Jesus did exist. I do not believe he was the son of God. I do not believe he performed miracles.i don't think denying the existence of jesus makes one a better atheist.

Wow! Great question! I think it was needed to a point. A lot of people needed something to believe in. Something supernatural that could help ease thier pain. Sure they only understood a portion of it. It helped a lot of people thinking prayers could get positive results. I prayed for the longest time thinking it may help ease my mind and solve some problems in my life. You have to have a strong will to back away from religion if you don't read the books and listen to people that are educated and make sense to you. Hell, i would of prayed for you a few years ago. Not today! I didn't just say the hell with it. I decided to take a deep look at it. George carlin started me thinking about the change. Then Penn and Teller and then James Randi. These guys made sense. So i started thinking on my own. Now i am me. A deep thinking individual that uses science and a new commen since to help explain the simple practical way of life. Now i have ill feelings towards certain denominations and the preachers that scream and holler that crap. I have to think before i have an opinion about certain things. People have to discover a new way of thinking on their own. They'll throw rocks at you if your not careful. Im ok now. I feel good being who i am... good topic. I think he existed. I think he may of came along and tried to give people some hope and he set a path of love and charity. Man took this and ran with it. They used it as a way to control by fear. I went to a couple of churches that used all kinds of methods to be controllers. I always wondered why it wouldnt work for me and left me feeling empty all the time. I thought the damn devel was doing this to me....damn, the pain was bad. Now i could just spit that i was taken advantage of... good topic.

Not important to me at all.
Honestly, I like the igtheistic approach to God/Jesus.
Unfortunately, a theist usually doesn't know what an igtheist is, so I have to explain it which makes the point kind of moot.