Debunking Jesus: A Reading List

by Catherine Giordano


Is Christianity based on a myth?

Bill Maher is a well- known atheist who is outspoken about his views. Sometimes I imagine his friends saying, “Don’t get him started.” In his comedy he sometimes pokes gentle fun at religion, but at other times he comes down hard debunking religion.  

In his documentary-style movie, Religulous, Maher makes the point quite clear that religion is ridiculous. 

I've written a few articles on religion about Jesus and Christianity. I did not believe that Jesus was a miracle working “son of god” of course, but I did think that the man whom we today call Jesus Christ did actually exist. Or maybe there were a group of self-named messiahs and their stories were conflated into one. I did some research and changed my mind about Jesus being an actual person. I now believe that Jesus is no more than a myth. This school of thought is called mythicism.

There are three main reasons for this belief. 

There is no evidence that this person whom we call Jesus Christ ever existed. No contemporary accounts and no records to show that a person (Jesus Christ )was preaching, fomenting rebellion, and/or getting crucified exists. (There are a couple of references to Christians, but no details are given. It could have been a cult worshipping a sun-god.) 

The story of Jesus Christ and the practices of the early Christians strongly resembled the stories of the gods and the practices of the mystery cults devoted to these gods.

The Gospels and the Bible are not history (and except for some of the Epistles of Paul) were written by unknown authors 100 to 300 years after the time of Jesus Christ. The accounts are full of obvious factual errors, contradictions, copying and translation errors, and deliberate amendments and deletions.

At one point in the movie Religulous, (about 40 minutes in), Maher compares the god Horus to Jesus saying they both had a virgin birth, they were both baptized, they both walked on water, etc. Unfortunately, my research showed that most of what Maher says about this is wrong. There are some resemblances, but not as many as Maher thinks. Actually, the story of Jesus may be closer to the story of Mithra (or Mithras) than Horus. 

You can read my articles on the subject by clicking the following links. (The third one specifically addresses the similarities between Jesus Christ and Christianity and the myths and mystery cults.)

Did Jesus Exist or Is it All a Myth Jesus Who?

The Historical Record Doesn’t have a Clue

The Mythical Origins of Christianity: True or False

I have put together a reading list of a few books on the subject. I’ve given a brief review of each book. You can click the links for more information.

The Jesus Puzzle: Did Christianity Begin with a Mythical Christ? Challenging the Existence of an Historical Jesus

CLICK HERE

Earl Doherty provides a richly-detailed and entertaining account of how Christianity began without an historical Jesus of Nazareth, who existed only on the pages of the Gospels. He provides a full and comprehensive survey of the early Christian record, the Pauline epistles, the gospels, the second century apologists, along with Jewish, Gnostic, and Greco-Roman documents of the time. He provides historical context with a discussion of the philosophy of the era, the pagan mystery cults, and other historical events. He was one of the first scholars of the modern mythicism school of thought. A great read for the general public and scholars alike.

On the Historicity of Jesus: Why We Might Have Reason for Doubt 

CLICK HERE

Richard Carrier re-examines the whole premise that Jesus existed as a real person and concludes that the Jesus story as we know it today is a blending of the historical, mythical, and theological. Carrier finds compelling reasons to suspect that the view of many religious scholars that Jesus actually existed is incorrect.  (Note: This book is for people with an academic bent. There are lots of footnotes, and it is packed with references. However, it is the most comprehensive and well-documented.)



Nailed: Ten Christian Myths That Show Jesus Never Existed at All

This book by David Fitzgerald sheds light on ten beloved Christian myths. The author gathers evidence from historians across the theological spectrum, and shows how it points to a Jesus Christ created solely through the allegorical alchemy of hope and imagination; a messiah that is a theological construct-- in short, a Christ that is pure myth.

Deconstructing Jesus
Robert Price, professor of scriptural studies at the Johnnie Colemon Theological Seminary, shows how the Jesus Christ of the gospels is very likely a fictional amalgam of several first-century prophets and messiahs, as well as of purely mythic Mystery Cult redeemers and Gnostic Aions.

CLICK HERE

CLICK HERE

The Christ-MythTheory and Its Problems

New Testament scholar, Robert M. Price, one of America's leading authorities on the Bible, has assembled in his book evidence that shows that almost the entire "biography of Jesus" is a conscious reworking of earlier literature.

Forged: Writing in the Name of God--Why the Bible's Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are

Bart Ehrman is a Biblical scholar who believes that Jesus Christ existed as a real person, but even he recognizes that many books of the New Testament are not only not written by people to whom they are attributed, but that they are deliberate forgeries.

 

CLICK HERE

CLICK HERE

Just to be fair I’m including a few books that posit the theory that Jesus Christ did exist.

  

Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth

A meticulously researched biography that challenges long-held assumptions about the man we know as Jesus of Nazareth.

How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee

The original disciples did not believe that Jesus was God—and it is not what Jesus claimed about himself. This book explains the evolution of a belief that looked very different in the fourth century than it did in the first.

How Jesus Became God is so often quoted to me to prove Jesus existed as a real actual human. If you read this book, you should also read this book by Earl Doherty, The End of an Illusion: How Bart Ehrman's "Did Jesus Exist?" Has Laid the Case for an Historical Jesus to Rest  It is a point by point refutation of Erhman.  

CLICK HERE

CLICK HERE

Writing on this topic has brought me both praise and a lot of harsh criticism. Even the mere suspicion that a historical Jesus did not exist as god or man can tumble the typical Christian’s entire worldview. This is very threatening. However, the answer to the question, “Did Jesus exist?” makes no real difference to me. It is only an intellectual puzzle. Whether the answer is yes or no, my life will not change at all. If the answer is yes, I will remain an atheist because I do not believe in God. If the answer is No, I still remain an atheist. 

Just a note: You can show your support for my posts by using the above link when you purchase this or any other book. I thank you in advance.   

Take Bill Maher’s Guests on Your Vacation (Summer 2015)

Live Right and Find Happiness

by  Catherine Giordano

Bill Maher has some very interesting guests on Real Time with Bill Maher. Wouldn’t it be great to take them on vacations with you? Maher’s guests may have other plans, but you can at least take their books on your vacation. 

Here are some books great for reading on the beach. Or save them for a rainy day. The sound of the rain is do relaxing as it muffles the usual noise that surrounds us—it’s perfect for enjoying a good book.  

I like to read something funny on the beach, something with short chapters so it is easy to put down when another activity beckons. A suspense novel with a cliffhanger at the end of every chapter is too hard to put down.  

Dave Barry

Dave Barry, a Pulitzer Prize winning humorist and former nationally syndicated columnist for The Miami Herald, is the perfect beach read. Maher said that Barry is “reliably entertaining.” His most recent book is Live Right and Find Happiness (Although Beeris Quicker.) He then added a second sub-title--Life Lessons and Other Ravings from Dave Barry–because Dave Barry just does not know when to stop. (And that is a good thing.) 

What better topic could there be for vacation reading than happiness. Every essay in the book is new, never-published- before hilarity about growing up, raising children, and living life in general, especially living life in Florida. (I did my own humorous essay on this: 20 Reasons Not to Move to Florida.) 

You probably won’t learn anything from this, but you will have a lot of laughs, and isn’t that what vacations are for? 

Dave Barry appeared on the 4/10/15 show. To read more about this appearance, CLICK HERE.)  

Fresh Off the Boat

Eddie Huang

Eddie Huang is the host of the series Huang’s World and proprietor of BaoHaus, a famous NYC restaurant. He’s also the author of Fresh Off the Boat: A Memoir which is now successful TV series on ABC. 

Huang cautions that you should not expect his book to much like the TV show. Huang is unhappy with the show because he feels it is full of stereotypes. On Maher’s show he said, “It’s the same stories as on every other show, with yellow faces.” 

This book, recounting the story of Huang’s Korean immigrant family in Orlando, Florida, has been called bawdy, rowdy, and hilarious. Dwight Garner, writing in the New York Times describes it as a “surprisingly sophisticated memoir about race and assimilation in America…as much James Baldwin and Jay-Z as Amy Tan…It’s a book about fitting in by not fitting in at all. 

Maybe you’ll want to go to a Korean restaurant for dinner. If you are in New York City, try the author’s restaurant, BaoHaus. You can travel to Korea on your vacation vicariously.  

Eddie Huang appeared on the 4/25/15 show. To read more about this appearance, CLICK HERE.)  

Charles M. Blow

Fire Shut Up in My Bones

Vacation time is a great time for laughs, but maybe you want something a little more serious. A vacation gives you time to think while you are away from the pressures of daily life. 

Charles M. Blow is a journalist and op-ed columnist for The New York Times who writes about politics, public opinion, and social justice. He is the author of Fire Shut Up in My Bones, a memoir of a black man growing up in Louisiana. 

This memoir has been called “luminous,” profoundly moving," and “heart-stopping.” It’s a brilliant and honest piece of writing that explores race gender class and sexuality. (Blow is bi-sexual.)  

Charles M. Blow appeared on the 9/26/14 show. To read more about this appearance, CLICK HERE. To see a video clip of Charles M. Blow discussing his book CLICK HERE

 

Take Bill Maher’s guests on your vacation. Explore three very different points of view. If you can’t go on a vacation, take a staycation. These books will serve you well either way.

Professional Liars: Merchants of Doubt

by Catherine Giordano

Merchants of Doubt Documentary

Did you know that you can earn a living being a professional liar?   Robert Kennar, producer, director, and screenwriter explained how on Real Time with Bill Maher episode 343 which aired on February 13, 2015. It began with tobacco, and moved on to pesticides, ozone, drugs, sugar, and more. The biggest issue right now is climate change.  

Kennar has a new documentary, Merchants of Doubt which was released on March 5, 2015. (It is based on the book, Merchants of Doubt, by Naomi Oreskes and Eric M. Conway. His previous documentary, Food Inc., was nominated for an Academy award.) 

The focus of the documentary is on climate change. He demands that people who mislead the public on climate change should not be on TV. Ever! Climater change is a proven fact. Human activity is causing the climate change is a proven fact.  Climate change will cause massive disruption to human civilization in myriad ways is a proven fact.  It is time for journalists to stop giving equal time to those who deceive the public about these facts.  

Journalists need to report facts.  If someone is spouting misinformation, it is not the jobs of journalists to politely give the liar (or moron) equal time. Journalists are doing the workd a disservice in the name of being fair.  

In 2013, one-third of the climate coverage on CNN and over a half of the climate coverage on Fox News was misleading. In 2014, every Sunday show except CBS’ Face the Nation hosted a climate denier. Mainstream news networks book— professional liars who peddle fake “science” and are often on the payroll of the fossil fuel industry. 

[I often wonder don’t these climate deniers have children and grandchildren. Is the short term profit worth it to them to destroy the world their heirs will have to live in?] 

Maher said that the professional liars and the politicians they have bought put it this way, “If we protect you, it will infringe on your freedom.” (I guess they are referring to your freedom to die an early painful death.) 

Sign the petition to tell TV network and cable news directors: Stop booking “merchants of doubt” on your programs immediately.

View a video clip of Maher’s interview.

Here’s another great video clip. This one from John Oliver on HBO’s Last Week Tonight. Oliver gave an hilarious and convincing dramatization of the folly of giving professional liars equal time. He began by saying we might as well have people debating whether or not 15 is a larger number than 5 and things got even wackier before he was done.

 

 

 

See the full recap and review of episode #343 of Real Time with Bill Maher, titled Unholy BS
 

Bill Maher’s Guests for February 13, 2015, episode #343

Robert Kennar: Screenwriter, director, producer, His newest movie is Merchants of Doubt, a documentary, based on the book by Naomi Oreskes and Eric M. Conway. His previous documentary, Food Inc., was nominated for an Academy award.  

David Duchovney: Actor, director, author of Holy Cow: A Modern Day Dairy Tale  

Tom Davis: Former Representative (R, VA), author of Partisan Divide: Congress in Crisis (with Martin Frost and Richard E. Cohen)

Zanny Milton Bedoes: Editor in Chief of The Economist magazine 

Baratunde Thurston: writer, comedian and entrepreneur, author of How to Be Black

Bill Maher New Rules: Middle-Class Economics

by Catherine Giordano

All the commentators are saying that Romney leave the race because of concerns about donors or because of concerns about losing?   

How humiliating it must have been to run for president and lose. But how much more humiliating to run for president and lose and then next time around you lose the race for the nomination from your own party. Maybe he decided not to tarnish his reputation even further.  

I was sorry to see him go.  I recently saw a blooper reel of Romney’s 2012 campaign.  The man was funny—inadvertently funny, but funny none the less.  This year was shaping up to be a great one for the blooper reel. Romney was talking about “income inequality.” The words are so funny when they come out of his mouth.  

Now that the Republicans can’t run their mouths about how bad the economy is—because the economy is pretty good-- they have to run their mouths about something.  They chose income inequality –and of course—they blame Obama for it.  It is the latest of the ju-jitsu moves from the Karl Rove school of dirty tricks: Attack your opponent on his strengths.  

Whatever good news there is on the economy was accomplished by Obama despite the obstructionism of the Republicans. Obama has a plan to reduce income inequality—raise the minimum wage, two years of college free, numerous jobs bills that include upgrading our country’s infrastructure and more.   

When a Republican talks about income inequality, he usually doesn’t bother to mention any plan to do something about it.  And if he does offer a plan it is to lower taxes on the rich—a plan thoroughly discredited.   

This picture should be on every lamppost in America.  It is not from Bill Maher, but it makes the point so well I’m including it.

Maher devoted the last segment of Nixed Economics to income inequality and the shrinking middle class. His proposal is to return to the socialism of the 1950’s and 60’s.  “Yes,” Maher opines “For a brief period of time, the United States was Finland.” 

Here’s a video of the segment.

 

 

Read the full recap and review of the show: “The Big Game”

 

Bill Maher’s Guests:  #341 January 30, 2015

Katty Kay. Journalist, lead anchor of BBC World News America, author. Her most recent book is The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self-Assurance---What Women Should Know

Monica Mehta;  Financial writer and commentator, author of The Entrepreneurial Instinct: How Everyone Has the Innate Ability to Start a Successful Small Business, ambassador for Operation Hope, a non-profit financial literacy organization. 

Laura Poitras: Documentary film director and producer. Her films include My Country, My Country. Her latest documentary, Citizenfour (about Eric Snowden), is nominated for a 2015 Oscar. 

Mel Brooks: Film director, screenwriter, comedian, actor, producer, composer, songwriter. He is best known as the producer of comic farces and parodies.  Nine of his best movies are included in The Mel Brooks Collection  

Joaquin Castro: Representative to Congress (D, TX)

Bill Maher #340 01/23/15 Open Season on Republicans

by Catherine Giordano


Bill Maher New Rules

Bill Maher had two comedy segments on his show, the mid-show segment and New Rules at the end of the show.  He took aim at Republicans and fired away.  It was like shooting fish in a barrel. 

New Rules pointed out that so many Republicans were running for their party’s nomination for president that Republicans should just tell us who ISN’T running. The clown car is revving up and ready to roll around the track.  

Right now they are all vying to catch the favor of one of the Republican billionaire sugar daddies. Last time around some candidates stayed in the race way past the time for them to leave because the backing of one billionaire kept them in.  

So Maher decided to help out by compiling “The Billionaire’s Buying Guide” so the Mr. Moneybags” of the party could make their choice.  Here is the segment.

 

 

Joanie Ernst is not running for president, at least not yet. She just won her election for Senator (R, IA). The Republicans evidently think she is a rising star. They gave her the opportunity to do the official Republican response.  (This did not deter four other Republicans from stepping up to the mic to give their very own response. There is no discipline in the Republican party these days.)  

Ernst gave a robotic delivery and, unlike Obama, she didn’t talk policy. She spent most of the time talking about herself. She told a pointless story about having to wear bread bags on her feet as a child when it rained. It might have been a good story if it was told to show how she overcame the shame of poverty, but every kid in her school wore bread bags on their feet. Maybe it was a fashion statement.  

 

Too bad for her, but fun for us. Maher did a bit about Ernst being a country singer who had a album called Bread Bags on My Feet.”  The he did parody song titles. Watch it here.

 

 

The 2016 Republican presidential nomination is starting so early. I think there will plenty more for Maher to spoof.

Red my full review and recap of episode 340, titled Crazy.  .

 

Bill Maher’s Guests for January 23, 2015 

Howard Dean: doctor, former governor of Vermont, former chairman of the DNC, co-founder of Democracy for America,” author of Howard Dean's Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform 

James Fallows: journalist, national correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly (“The Tragedy of the American Military”). He has written several books. His most recent book is China Airborne: The Test of China’s Future. He also wrote Blinded into Bagdad: America’s War into Iraq 

Bill Burr: comedian, podcaster, actor. He has a DvD: Bill Burr: Let it Go. His movies include Walk of Shame and Black or White

Nia-Malika Henderson: political reporter for The Washington Post (The Fix) 

Bret Stephens: columnist, journalist for the Wall Street Journal, Pulitzer Prize winner, author of America in Retreat: The New Isolationism and the Coming Global Disorder

 

Bill Maher: So Sue Me Again

by Catherine Giordano


Bill Maher Repu8blican Book Club

It’s almost a cliché. If you want to run for president, you have to have a book newly published in the months preceding your announcement.  That is why there is a slew of new books on the market from Republicans. 

In the mid-show comedy segment for the January 16, 2015 Real Time with Bill Maher show (episode 339) , Maher told us he had “hacked into their emails” and found the original titles of these books.

Usually these books have boring titles, and almost always with the word “America” or “Dreams” or “Future” somewhere in the title. Maher decided to liven things up by renaming the books.

Maher didn’t need to do a thing Mike Huckabee’s book title. It was funny even before Maher transformed it. It is God, Guts, Grits, and Gravy. I was laughing before he even got to the satirical renaming.  Guys like Huckabee make Maher’s job easy.

The book title he gave to Sarah Palin’s book perfectly summed up what these books are all about. It was the one for Sarah Palin’s book.

Hey Sucker. Yeah You. Give Me $29.95

The honor of being the final book in Maher’s list went to Donald Trump. He renamed Trumps book: Me Want Banana. Me Climb Tree. Inside the Mind of a Half-Human Half-Orangutan Billionaire. 

After reading out the title, Bill laughed and said “So sue me again.”  Maher is clearly delighted that Trump once tried to sue him because Maher had joked that Trump’s father was an orangutan.

[Read the complete story of the feud between Maher and Trump at Drones, Bones, and Orange Tones.]

Watch the Republican Book Club comedy segment here:

Read the full review and recap of Real Time with Bill Maher, #339 here: Free Speech

Bill Maher’s Guests January 16, 2015.

Josh Gad: actor best known for voicing Olaf in Frozen 

Atul Gawande: surgeon, public-health researcher, professor, chairman of Lifebox, (a nonprofit which aims to reduce deaths in surgery globally) and author of several books. His most recent book is Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End.

Josh Barro: Self-identifies as a neo-liberal and a Republican, correspondent for The New York Times. (I checked the definition of neo liberal—it sounds like just another word for libertarian.) 

Wes Moore: businessman, U.S. Army veteran, host of "Beyond Belief" on the Oprah Winfrey Network, author.  His first book, The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates, became an instant New York Times bestseller. His most recent book is The Work: My Search for a Life That Matters.

Kathryn Bigelow: director, producer, screenwriter. Her two most recent movies are Zero Dark Thirty and The Hurt Locker.  She has started a campaign to prevent the extinction of elephants and has produced an animated/live action short/PSA called  Last Days.

Maher, Rushdie, and Charlie

by Catherine Giordano 

Salmon Rushdie Quote on Freedom of Speech

I’m always glad to see Salman Rushdie on the panel of Real Time with Bill Maher and never more so than on episode 338 which aired on January 9, 2015. At one point he said, “I have a little experience with this.” He was referring to the fact that a tatwa had been issued against him urging all Muslims to kill him because of his heresy. He was also raised as a Muslim so he understands the religion from the inside. Rushdie had the relative good fortune to have the threat against him made publically so he could go into hiding for years; the staff at Charlie Hebdo did not have a direct warning.

 

“We are the side show.”

Rushdie explained the true reasons for Islamic terrorism. “We are the side show,” he said. “This is a project to seize power in the Muslim world. They want to create a mindset that allows them to conquer the world of Islam.” He later added, “It is the fight inside Islam that is important. Inside Islam there is a powerful group that wants to drag the world back to the 7^th century.” 

 

“They share the same bad ideas.”

Bill Maher repeated the point that he repeatedly made on his show and elsewhere. “The majority of Muslims would never do anything like this, but they share the same bad ideas. The terrorists and the mainstream Muslims share the same ideas.”

 Rushdie pointed out that the reaction after the Charlie Hebdo massacre was different.  Muslims stood up and said, “Not in our name.”

 

“To a coward courage always looks like stupidity.”

Rushdie commented on those who criticize the writers, scholars and artists who stand up against bigotry. He called them, the “but-brigade” as in “Yes, I believe in free speech, BUT maybe you shouldn’t have done that.” 

Rushdie said that those who speak out are told to “Sit down, you are rocking the boat.” His response to those who would try to silence critics was: “What we can do is “not give a f*@king inch.” Also, “We have to rock the boat. It’s our function. What would a respectful political cartoon look like?”

Maher quoted “The Financial Times: “Common sense should be useful at publications which purport to strike a blow for freedom when they provoke Muslims, but are actually being stupid.”  

Maher replied, “To a coward courage always looks like stupidity.”

Here is he YouTube video of the discussion:

 

 

 

Unfortunately, the discussion was marred by the demented jack-in-the-box, on the panel, Carly Fiorina, who just wouldn’t shut up. Fast forward through her comments. They are a distraction. I wish someone would make a video where they pull the smart quotes and edit out the distractions.

 

Rushdie and Maher could barely contain their disdain for her interruptions, but every time they tried to shut her down she popped up again. Maher and Rushdie tried to ignore her, but she was shouting and pounding the table. And she would not shut up! She made me feel like I was at a party cornered by some self-centered full-of-herself bore that I just couldn’t escape. Watch her facial expressions. She is so smug, so sure that she is gifting up with her “gems-of-wisdom.” I had such a visceral reaction of disgust. And she would not shut up!

Read the full review and recap of the show: No Joking

 

Bill Maher’s Guests for January 19, 2015.

Salmon Rushdie: author of several books including Joseph Anton: A Memoir (about the time he spent in hiding because there was a fatwa calling for his murder due to his book, The Satanic Verses: A Novel) and his latest novel, Shame: A Novel

 

Paul Begala: Democratic campaign strategist and author of many books on politics including his newest one assessing the possible 2016 candidates, 2016 Scouting Report: American Bridge's Media Guide to the Republican Presidential Bench

 

Jay Leno. Former host of The Tonight Show, (See Behind the Curtain: An Insider’s View of Jay Leno’s Tonight Show by Dave Berg) He is currently doing two shows about cars: Garage which can be seen on YouTube and a car show for CNBC. 

 

Chris Hardwick: Comedian, actor, screenwriter, musician, podcaster, television host for @Midnight on Comedy Central, author of The Nerdist Way: How to Reach the Next Level (In Real Life)

Carly Fiorina, former business executive, failed U.S. Senate candidate (R CA), author of Tough Choices: A Memoir