The God Who Wasn't There.

I was screwing around with Haloscan this afternoon, and saw an advertisement for a movie called "The God Who Wasn't There", a documentary by Brian Flemming -- exploring the theory that Jesus did not actually exist. Based on the trailer that I just saw, it goes to some length to show just how hated and twisted Christianity as become over the years. You can hear interviews in the trailer where people say things such as "The first several decades of Christianity had no historical Christ", and one that really strikes you, "Jesus was not the first character to be born of a virgin, to be adored by wise men, and to heal the sick, to suffer and die on a tree or a cross. To be buried in a tomb to rise again on the third day, only to ascend into the sky. This had happened before, this is an old story."

"And Christianities way of dealing with this problem is to ignore it."

It's hard hitting stuff, and not at all surprising. The website for the movie claims that contemporary Christians are largely ignorant of the origins of their religion, which also is not so surprising. Given that most Christians are indoctrinated into the religion cult by their parents, and mostly know only what they've been told to believe, their ignorance is understandable. There are interviews with many good people, Alan Dundes, Professor of Folklore at UC Berkeley, and someone people may be familiar with from the total beat down Intelligent Design got in Kitzmiller v. Dover, evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins. These names and the way the documentary is presented remind me very much of Kitzmiller. I read over 80% of the trial transcripts, and the plaintiffs used people like these to tear down the claims of Intelligent Design piece-by-piece, until they were revealed for truth; unsubstantiated claims and myths.

It looks well produced and has very positive ratings on imdb, so check it out right here. Or just watch the the trailer. It's worth your time.

Technorati tags: Religion, Christ, Christianity, Brian Flemming