[extropy-chat] Athiest perspectives...

[BillK]

On 4/15/06, spike wrote:
<snip>
> A new religion was born, amen.


Yes, but it wasn't the Xian religion.

The Jewish sect that were followers of this particular Messiah, (there
were many so-called Messiahs during this turbulent period) was led by
James and was resident in Jerusalem and only interested in Jewish
traditions.
This sect was virtually wiped out during the Jewish rebellion of 66-73
CE against the Roman occupation.

Paul took it over and made it suitable for a Greco-Roman audience by
adding lots of Greek and Cynic philosophy (totally alien to the Jewish
origins). The gospels were written to make the Romans more into the
nice guys and the Jews into the bad guys because the new religion was
being marketed (very successfully) to the Roman empire.

BillK