I seriously doubt it. Given a non-divine origin, What possible difference would it make?

I am prepared to believe that there was a historical person who started the Christian religion. We can't know, probably, so that seems like a reasonable line to take. Ofc it may have been a conspiracy. but I would have to believe in the conspiracy.

So yes. Probably.

Was there a Mohammed who started Islam?

Enter the skeptic! Kernal of truth possibly, Jesus being a very common name back then.
Virgin birth = no.
Walk on water = no,
Raising the dead = no,
Rising from he dead = no
Son of God = no
So it would depend on how much of Jesus of the Bible we are considering.
I believe the whole Jesus story is an amalgam of myths from other religions, Chinese whispers through a couple of generations and maybe back in the midst of it, some local rumors. Some really lousy stories have become best sellers with the right editing, marketing and promotion.

I do believe he did exist. I think he was on the same level as Gandhi or the Buddha. I reject any thought of him being born of a virgin, or the Son of God, or a sacrificial lamb but I do believe he had a message to teach.

If Jesus existed his name was not Jesus (probably Yeshua) and he was a radical rabi who upset the orthodoxy of the Jews with his teachings.

Yes he was! The Romans' killed Jesus because they were jealous and decided to make him a god so they could enrich and empower themselves over us. They had a ( eureka! ) moment and decided to write a book about it on how to make money, wear a dress of sorts and make us feel guilty about it all. Roman Catholics killed Jesus and got very rich from it. Now there is a scam for you and billions fall for it and send these dress wearing con artists all their money. I heard a story that 1200 years before Jesus in Egypt there was a man who did exactly what Jesus did, raise from the dead and such and the Roman's just cut and paste it into their bible. I think I'll write a bible too and call it "If you send me all your money you'll live forever bible" oh, wait a church in Texas already thought of that and he had 8 Rolls cars. Even though his followers kept dying they they still believed in him. You can sell anything to sheep after all, sheep are made to fleece...

Yes, I believe there is a kernel of truth to there being a person named Jesus.

How can I know? ...I am still doubting santa claus.

Hell no!

I think he existed as a man ahead of his time. I believe he was trying to show people how to become enlightened themselves, not realizing that they wouldn't be able to understand him and instead turn him in to an idol and misconstrue his entire message.

I believe that the Jesus myth may have been based on more than one person. Picture a group of travellers telling stories about the Messiah from their individual villages. We know there were a number of claimed ”saviors" around the same time. It's not hard to imagine each story teller embellishing his story to outdo the others and to fulfill the existing prophecies.

On the other hand Jesus may have been a charlatan. He is said to have known the Torah better than the rabbis; so it wouldn't have been hard for him to do things that seemed to meet Hebrew prophecy.

As far as Caesar being the template for Jesus, I don't believe that the two are very compatible.

I think there's a theory that interests me. The theory is that Jesus Christ was a deified version of Julius Caesar.
Julius Caesar forgave most of the people who went against him in the Civil War.
Caesar died and three days later was made a God, so he kinda "rose again".
The theory says that the soldiers that fought for him moved to the area around jerusalem. That they talked about his clemency, ability to move quickly, and ingenius mind in battle. That they made him a god, whos name changed to Jesus and story was added to. Both were said to have been immaculately conceived. Just my thoughts.

TL;DR-The Jesus myth might have been based partly on Julius Caesar.

I have had him on my fantasy football team for most of the season and he has accumulated a lot of points. Add that to the £30m Manchester City paid for him and I think he is probably real.

I am also an agnostic on the existence of the Biblical Jesus.

I think he probably existed. I don't think he was the son of god.

There's some crackpot "Bible expert" going around saying he can read in-between the verses and see that it was a total Roman-invented conspiracy. I believe Jesus could have existed but was rescued before he died on the cross if so. It's likely a mixture of fantasy and a real-life person.

Paul's epiphany was only 20 years or so after the event. It would have been difficult to organize a religion around a guy if nobody remembered the fireworks.

Yes, he was the greatest con-artist to ever exist

"Jesus of Nazareth" was a great way to express "John Doe, from Nowhere," and believe it or not your perspective is mirrored all over the Bible, in code though; "where the body is, there the vultures will gather," etc. How could Muhammad say "Jesus did not die," and "Follow Christ or be doomed," in the same Book? One must ask. "John Doe out of Nowhere" is in here, somewhere [abarim-publications.com]

So I have to confess that I have no great academic understanding and will be interested in Jim Edwards reference (thanks Jim!)

Of late I've taken notice of a recent hypothesis that Jesus and the Gospels, and, probably the letter's of Paul, were invented by the Romans for propaganda purposes. I don't accept this hypothesis on its face value but I find it interesting.

[independent.co.uk]

I don't believe so. I know there are a lot of Biblical scholars who believe a person who the myth is based on existed, but I've read the evidence for both sides, and I find the idea that he was completely invented to be more believable.