Trav,
I think you are mistaken. Jesus and the Christian Churches claim Jesus conquered death. I just don't believe it.
We live in a universe that obeys the laws of physics and chemistry.
Today water is water and wine is wine and they will be tomorrow. Bugs might cause wine to decay to some other chemical but we can determine such causes.
Three day old dead bodies cannot and do not come back to life. For similar biological reasons virgins do not give birth without insemination and a clone can only be the same sex as the parent.
Peter Singer's "How are we to live?" is a better guide to living than anything based on old religious writings.

“Even though I'm not a Christian I agree with Trav's argument, Christianity without miracles and the Resurrection is just another philosophy of life, like the teachings of Confucious or Epicurus. The author is, in the final analysis, presenting an argument against religion.”

The difference between Christianity and philosophy is Christianity demands as fact, the events of both bibles without any supporting evidence. Under those conditions I would class it as mythology. Philosophy is designed to guide and inspire progressive thought and life analysis, not blind faith.

The author makes good points, but you can't have it both ways. It would be psychologically destructive to many, who would struggle to come to terms with what they refuse to accept, It didn't happen. You either accept the claims of christianity or as any logical person would do, see it for what it is, ancient mythology designed to suppress progressive thought and control lives.

As with all myths, the facts regarding Christianity slowly come out as science finds better ways to delve into the past, making it harder and harder for them to continue holding up what is not reality. At least with Confucius, Epicurus and all other philosophers, they can be proven to have existed by independent evidence and don't claim to be anything else but normal humans. Both jesus and god, have no such evidenced support, nor proof, yet claim super human attributes, events and outcomes, against the known facts.

Bushbasher, christians have an entirely different understanding of what it means to be christian, compared to non believers and even non christian believers. In all my years of practise, (semi retired now), I am still amazed at the depth of psychological confusion in christians as they try to reconcile viewable fact, compared to their unsupported faithful adherence.

Though one of the worlds most down to earth inhabitants I still have a strong Christian faith. Why? Because 'logic' tells me there is plenty in this universe that is inexplicable and beyond understanding and that the more knowledge gained the more we realise how little is really known.

Growing up in a large extended family where Christian values were practised more than preached fostered 'belief' as a child. I was very much a "WHY" child who would often resist conformity if logical reasons could not be given. In matters of religion my Grandfather was chief source of wisdom. The Bible contains the Christians evidence for belief. He could quote scripture to explain most things but sometimes only say it is simply a matter of faith.

I believe the decline of Christianity in Western society has more to do with affluence than any other factor.
"Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people" quoth Karl Marx, translated. Karl, a godless man, nevertheless had it nailed. Eliminate oppression, provide abundant necessities and add the non-essentials that make life 'fun' and what more does Man think he needs? Except maybe more of the same ... There you have it for a huge number of "Westerners". As people tend to (re)turn to God in times of hardship and suffering, it is interesting to think what impact the current economic crisis may have.

Clownfish re: Christianity's feverish obsession with sexuality .... Controls over sexual behavior are an inescapable feature of any society. Think harder. Maybe you are better off "Christian" or surrounded by them than say a pubescent girl in rural Pakistan or Saudi Arabia whose husband should wait until their first menstruation before consumating the 'marriage' since that is the religious belief. That belief also accepts flogging, imprisonment and death as legitimate remedies for sexual indiscretions and that's just one "extreme" religious/cultural example. Give me Jesus who preached "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone" anytime ...

divine_msn, you are quite correct. I should have said *religion's* feverish obsession with sexuality.

Religious fanaticism seems to hold an extraordinary appeal for men who are completely incapable of a mature relationship to women.

Trav wrote: "But Jesus was different because he conquered death. That's the unique aspect of the Christian claim."

Not so. The Finnish hero Lemminkäinen was resurrected by god after being dismembered by his enemy. For Hindus, Ganesh was brought back to life by Siva, albeit with an elephant's head, and of course there's Adonis, Mithras, Osiris, all of whom died and were resurrected by God.

And that's just a start. Check it out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Life-death-rebirth_gods

Have you considered that you might be worshiping a false prophet? I hear God gets a bit upset about that.

Sancho I was making a comparison with philosophy, I wasn't suggesting that Christianity is the only religion who claims someone rose from the dead.

But on that note, if you can give me evidence, both experential and historical evidence, for any of those other resurrected Gods which is even somewhere near comparable to the experential and historical evidence for Jesus, then we'll discuss them.