Many, probably most, atheists consider Jesus bar-Joseph to have been a real person.
They just his status as the Son of God to be fictional.
Many, probably most, atheists consider Jesus bar-Joseph to have been a real person.
Actually, there's been a growing movement to deny the historicity of Jesus over the last ten years. Claims that Jesus was a complete fiction are starting to get pretty common these days. I don't know what percentage of atheists buy into that, but their number is growing rapidly.
The irony is that they claim to be all about "facts" and "science" and "reason" with this claim, but purely secular archaeology strongly supports the existence of a real person. Jesus has more historical documentation than Alexander the Great and nobody doubts the he was real.