Why do have to treat Jesus like a conspiracy theory? We got 9/11, we have JFK. Go play with those.
All the people in all those Churches, they're not all Jerry Fawells in there. Not even close. They're just regular folks. A lot of them probably don't even know what they believe. They help each other. They pray for each other. They paint houses for the sick. They bring food. They have more sorrow than judgement. They're all hypocrites. They say Amen.
If they don't feel like picking apart their faith more power to them. It would be like tracing back a 2000 year old game of telephone anyway.
If you'd like a good read of the mysterious world of a Church try Anne Lamott's Thoughts on Faith series(Grace, Traveling Mercies, Plan B).
I read the last two. She's cool. She wears dreadlocks. She's funny. She bashes Bush and praises the New York Times, so she's no genius, but she's still good. Short little story chapters.
Merry Easter! (if it happened)

Hi Bobby,

I don't think that it is Jesus that is being treated like a conspiracy theory, but his treatment of Him by the Church. The same applies to any "organised religion".

There are some similarities between the two which I kind of covered in the link from my handle.

Both Conspiracy Theorists and Organised Religions are self-appointed guardians of "The Truth" by which they mean their version of the truth.

Both Conspiracy Theorists and (most) Organised Religions tend to stipulate that "if you don't believe the whole of what we say is true, then you are against us / part of the conspiracy / evil / an Apostate."

In the end the biggest difference between them is that of their Intent.

I like that characterization of the Jesus Movement coming from the Jerusalem 'ghetto.' Isn't it funny how, eventually the ghetto hunters got it to be chic with the elite? So funny. But it was always incompatible with them, so its been a boiling stew ever since.

Why does the most meaningful spiritual movements come from the deprived humans? Siddartha had to seek out the deprivation to figure out Buddhist fundementals.

Odd's fish.

I have visited some of the old churches in India. To me they have a spiritual vibe not unlike some really old Hindu temples. I am fascinated that India has a much older Christianity than the west. I am also fascinated by the Christianity of the Middle East that developed before Constantine or the Catholic Church.

When a religion is new, and many different groups are exploring the meanings of it, there are very exciting things happening. People are being transformed, paradigms are being broken and new ones created. Religion is very juicy and very alive at such a time.

I don't doubt the faith of most individuals.

In fact I love religion - the symbolism, the mythology, the reverence, the mystery of it. Even the rituals (that is, the non-violent rituals). I have experienced the rituals of several different types of religion and spiritualities, and each of them has moved me deeply. When my consciousness experiences that realm of compassion and love for all beings, it doesn't matter which religion triggered the experience. It could be an American Indian sweat lodge, it could be a shrine to the Holy Mother, it could be the birthplace of Krishna at Mathura, it could be a little temple high in the hills of Srinagar where some saint lived in silence for years on end.

I just don't like religion when it gets exploited for political purposes.

Come to think of it, I don't like much of anything that gets exploited for political purposes, such as money, loyalty, trust, friendship and so on.

Basically, it's greedy politics I object to, not religion.