[CaspersGh0sts]

The #1 requirement for all professors of religious studies is that they not be religious.

Very much the truth. Religious studies professors study religion--not faith. And they remain quite ignorant about or simply ignore history.

"His claims, though, take on some of Christianity's most sacred tenets, like the resurrection of Jesus. Ehrman says he doesn't think the resurrection took place. There's no proof Jesus physically rose from the dead, and the resurrection stories contradict one another, he says."

How, pray tell, then, did a branch of what was essentially a small, isolated sect in Judaism spread throughout the Roman Empire? Christianity remained largely a lower class phenomenom, yet it spread rapidly. It lacked power, money, influence, and mainstream appeal. And yet it spread from one end of the known world to the other.

People often ignore the spread of other forms of faith. You simply don't see them spread as Christianity spread.

[brytlea]

If one doesn’t believe Jesus rose from the dead, then they don’t believe the central tenet of Christianity. Thus, they are not Christians. I think we should all pray for this man.

[scarsc]

<> It took off primarily through the efforts of Constantine, who made it the official religion of the empire. However, how fast or how far a religion spreads isn't, in and of itself, proof of much. Christianity got a head start of over 600 years to Islam, yet Islam now has over 1.5 billion followers. That, in and of itself, doesn't speak to whether Islam is "true" or not.

[antiRepublicrat]

Religious studies professors study religion--not faith. And they remain quite ignorant about or simply ignore history.

This is the case of a guy who was very religious, but lost it after extensive study of history. I always thought it was pretty sad if you base your faith on the infallibility of book written by humans. He probably grew up under inerrantists and lost it all when he found out that wasn't true.