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9 Things Salon.com Gets Wrong About Jesus

Salon.com recently published an article by former Evangelical-turned-freethinker Valerie Tarico titled "9 things you think you know about Jesus that are probably wrong". There’s nothing particularly groundbreaking contained in her arguments, but they’ve been making the rounds in social media, and therefore worthy of a response. Below I respond to each of her major points. 1. Jesus was married, not single. This tired old claim has seemingly been refuted more times than the earth has revolved... Read More

Popular News Site Claims Jesus Never Existed

An article titled "5 Reasons to Suspect that Jesus Never Existed" was posted last week at Salon.com and was featured in the Yahoo news feed. The article itself does not contain anything groundbreaking to anyone who follows this debate, but it presents the most common objections. Below are five reasons author Valerie Tarico gives, and how to answer them. 1. No first century secular evidence whatsoever exists to support the actuality of Yeshua ben Yosef.   Tarico uses only an extensive quote... Read More

Is This Mention of Jesus a Forgery?

Many skeptics assert that there is no early, non-Christian evidence for a historical Jesus. But Christian apologists point to the writings of the ancient Jewish historian Josephus, who mentions Jesus no less than twice. Yet are those accounts truly trustworthy? Who was Josephus?   Josephus was born to a wealthy family in Judea in the year A.D. 37. In the year 66, a national revolt against Rome broke out and Josephus was appointed commander of the insurgent forces in Galilee. The resistance... Read More

Did the Church Teach the Earth was Flat?

When I was young I was taught in school that Christians believed the Earth was flat. In this view, it was not until Christopher Columbus’ historic journey to the “New World” that the Church became forced to accept this as fact and do away with its false belief. The idea that Christians believed in a flat Earth has been taught in school textbooks, short films, and is believed by many even today. This notion of history stuck with me through my years as an atheist, during which I'd often refer... Read More

Five Mythical “Myths About Jesus”

Reza Aslan is a professor of creative writing at the University of California, Riverside and the author of the much-talked-about new book, Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth. Aslan recently followed his book with an article in the Washington Post titled "Five Myths About Jesus". Aslan’s assertions are nothing new in the world of Catholic apologetics, and the fact that he makes them at all should come as no surprise: Aslan is a former Evangelical Christian who now identifies as... Read More

Did Pope Francis Criminalize the Reporting of Sex Crimes?

Yesterday morning, the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science Facebook page posted the following bombshell: "According to the new laws, revealing or receiving confidential Vatican information is now punishable by up to two years in prison, while newly defined sex crimes against children carry a sentence of up to twelve years. Because all sex crimes are kept confidential, there is no longer a legal way for Vatican officials to report sex crimes." This was startling stuff, and of course... Read More

Exploding the Mithras Myth

In an effort to cast doubt on Christianity, skeptics will attempt to point out parallels between the beliefs and practices of Christians to those of the Roman cult of Mithras. In this article we will examine the most commonly encountered parallels and answer their claims. Lists of parallels can be found in skeptic literature or by searching the Internet and they usually appear as follows: Mithras preceded Christianity by roughly 600 years. Mithras was born on December 25. He was considered a great... Read More

Horus Manure: Debunking the Jesus/Horus Connection

Many atheists, neo-pagans, and other disbelievers of Christianity claim the story of Jesus Christ was borrowed from earlier mythologies. In recent years, a claim has been making the rounds that Jesus is based on the Egyptian god, Horus. Who was Horus? Horus is one of the oldest recorded deities in the ancient Egyptian religion. Often depicted as a falcon or a man with a falcon head, Horus was believed to be the god of the sun and of war. Initially he appeared as a local god, but over time the ancient... Read More