There’s a conspiracy theory that Jesus is a composite character plagiarised from half a dozen or more pre-Christian faiths, and in particular the key points of his life are actually personified versions of the Winter solstice and the movement of the sun and the stars (including the Zodiac in some versions of the theory).

It’s widely believed amongst atheists, but it’s simply not true on any level. He was a real dude and was really crucified, and the supposed earlier versions of Christ-like characteristics are either extremely tenuous coincidences or simply outright lies (with some honest mistranslations/misinterpretations). Bart Ehrman, an atheist himself but a world-renowned scholar on the history of Christianity, has several books which deal with this question to varying degrees, the main one being “Did Jesus Exist?”. It’s worth reading (or listening to) if you’re curious about it. He addresses the specific claims of proponents of the conspiracy theory directly, like those of Richard Carrier.

I’m atheist, but I respect history and historical scholarship. It’s one of the handful of disciplines that humanity can’t really afford to overlook or devalue in 2025 if we want to survive into the next millennia. Agreeing on reality is one of the hardest things to do in the current climate. Overeager atheism that plays fast and loose with historical fact is not helping us secularise the world. It’s making us seem like we’re debunkable, because in this specific case, we are. It’s like in a video game when you get to a boss fight and see that the boss has a glowing section on its body that you’re supposed to shoot. Pretending Jesus wasn’t a real person is like us placing a giant glowing chest plate on our efforts and watching helplessly as Christians fire directly at it. There’s no need for it.