>>Now I'm curious about your emotional motivations, because those are what really drive all people. It's what drives us to be deeply interested in a subject or totally uninterested in it. It's what drives us to be hostile to a general subject or not.

It's plain to see you're pretty hostile toward Christianity. Why?<<

Whose being hostile? I just don't believe in it. I looked at it too close.

>>Accordingly, I viewed the churches with a certain amount of amused contempt when I was young, but I didn't have a visceral hatred for them...and I get the impression that you do.<<

Really, I'm fine with whatever impression you have. It really isn't important what I think. Won't change anything.

>>Were you subjected to a lot of pressure to be religious when you were young? I find that it is that, rather than anything Jesus ever taught (or was reputed to) that turns people so bitterly against religion that they spend the rest of their lives spewing tirades against it.<<

Actually, my parents are very unreligious. They're not atheists. They just never went to church or made their kids go. I don't remember ever going to church as a kid.

>>And I can understand that. I was subjected to complete other kinds of pressure when I was young. As a result, I don't harbour a grudge against Jesus or Christianity. I think you do. I mean, hey, it's totally obvious that you do. ;-)<<

If you say so.

>>I think it is that grudge that makes you want to believe that Jesus never existed. If you didn't hate the Christian religion so much, it probably never would have even occurred to you to adopt such a belief.<<

My problem was becoming enamored with philosophy. If you really knoew anything about it, you'd know the cornerstone of all philosophy is that there are no gods and you are on your own. to dney is this is to admit you've never studied philosophy.

>>You are absolutely right that kings, from Constantine on, cynically used the church for all it was worth to consolidate and enlarge their power. You betcha. That's what politicians do (unless they're Communists, in which case they do the exact opposite).

That, however, is not Jesus' fault (if he existed) and it in no way impinges on the value of his orginal teachings.<<

What are his original teachings, btw?

>>It simply proves that politicians are generally corrupt and greedy for power. They will use the church either as an ally...or a scapegoat to blame things on. Whatever suits their gameplan.<<

They don't just use religion. They invented it as a means to perpetuate their power.