Raising Objections

The strongest objections to the Christian faith, stated fairly and answered with evidence. Every response is grounded in the text, the lexicon, the archaeological record — not rhetoric.

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Textual Criticism Gateway

Haven't the New Testament manuscripts been corrupted through centuries of copying?

The New Testament has been copied so many times by fallible scribes that the original text is irretrievably lost.

— Bart Ehrman, Misquoting Jesus (2005)

Historical Gateway

Did Jesus of Nazareth actually exist as a historical person?

Jesus is a legendary or mythological figure, not a historical person. The New Testament is religious propaganda, not history, and independent evidence for Jesus is too thin to establish his existence.

— Richard Carrier, On the Historicity of Jesus (2014)

Comparative Religion Gateway

Isn't the resurrection story borrowed from pagan dying-and-rising god myths?

The resurrection narrative was borrowed from widespread pagan myths of dying-and-rising gods (Osiris, Mithras, Dionysus, Attis). Christianity is a derivative mythology, not a unique historical claim.

— Popular in internet atheism; traced to Sir James Frazer, The Golden Bough (1890); popularized recently by Zeitgeist: The Movie (2007)