Jesus Project saga part 1

These are the voyages of Jesus myther propaganda... (part 1)

It's five year mission, to seek out new lies and new propaganda slogans, to boldly go where no historians have gone before...

 

 Years ago, way back in 2009 I did a post on Atheistwatch about the Jesus project, not seminar but project. They really did have a five year mission. Last week I did a post on the parent organization, the centerpiece of atheist propaganda machine, the center for inquiry (they do skeptical inquiry magazine). What came of that Jesus project? It's five years  were up in 2013. I said that the time:

"Cracking The Jesus Myth Phony Scholarship Code."

Richard Carrier has a couple of articles on his blog about a big conference for the Jesus Project
held at Amherst last December. O it sounds very scholarly. It presents the image of a group of major scholars meeting to mull over the lattes scientific findings that proving that Jesus never existed. This creates the idea that there is a climate of opinion in the academic world to expose the lies about Jesus as fiction and show that he never existed. But if you follow the trail to see where his lie originated, and the trail is clearly marked, one can see clearly that there's nothing scholarly about it. It's nothing more than a put up job, but it's no accident that the Jesus Myth stupidity though exposed time after time as bankrupt lives on and continues to draw in a group suckers who are hood winked into believing that they are on the cutting edge of scientific search for truth.[1]

guess what? They did not go five years. They were shut down in two. Why? First the head of the center resigned. In an article, "Expelled Founder Paul Kurtz Explains His Departure From The Center for inquiry," After going through a lot of "he said she said" about how he was treated it all came down to this:

While I am of course a strong defender of the right to blaspheme, as this is essential to a free society, I was opposed in principle to CFI’s sponsorship of Blasphemy Day and the cartoons contest, for they ridiculed religion and did not appeal to rational arguments. Moreover, I never intended for the organization to mock religion. Humanism has always stood for — among other things — the thoughtful and critical examination of doctrinaire religion. This has especially been true since day one of the founding of Free Inquiry and the Council for Secular Humanism when we stated unequivocally that our aim was to present a “sophisticated analysis of religious inconsistencies and their social consequences.” [2]

Gee now where Have I heard this before? It would seem this blog is vindicated in the assertions, the wild ridiculous conspiracy theory at the mocking and radicle is organized. That might just cast a hint of suspicion over the Jesus Project since it is a creature of the propaganda machine. Heres a dead give away, I have pointed out the Orwellian nature of New Atheism. [3] in the interview Kurtz says:

EV: Isn’t the refusal to publish your position at odds with an organization that calls itself “Center for Inquiry” or an organization that publishes “Free Inquiry“?

PK: It is similar to thought police. Alas! They refused to publish three of my editorials, and they refused to publish my statement regarding my resignation. What a contradiction. Even though I am the founder of the organizations, their position essentially was that I had no right to publicly express my concerns about the direction of the organization or the new management practices adopted under the current leadership — both of which I have grave reservations about. I consider this as similar to a Board of Bishops seeking to control its Founder.

That I Orwellian because in Animal farm the pigs take over and work Ben the sincere horse into ground until he dies, denying him benefits of leadership and excluding him from decisions. He is so committed he never notices. Kurtz is not the only one the New Atheists have hood winked. This get's at the reason the JP shut down. The project was started by John Hoffmann who is a valid scholar and fine historian. His academic credentials are impeccable. He also believes in the historicity of Jesus. Hoffman's own statement about why yhe pulled the plug:

Alas, The Jesus Project itself became a subject for exploitation: news stories, promotional material and the reactions in the blogosphere focused on the Big Question: “Scholars to Debate whether Jesus Really existed.” Given the affections of media, the only possible newsworthy outcome was assumed to be He didn’t. Such a conclusion had it ever been reached (as it would not have been reached by the majority of participants) would only have been relevant to the people April DeConnick ( a participant) has described as “mythers,” people out to prove through consensus with each other a conclusion they cannot establish through evidence. The first sign of possible trouble came when I was asked by one such “myther” whether we might not start a “Jesus Myth” section of the project devoted exclusively to those who were committed to the thesis that Jesus never existed. I am not sure what “committed to a thesis” entails, but it does not imply the sort of skepticism that the myth theory itself invites. [4].

Note that the only newsworthy conclusion was that Jesus didn't exist. That's because that he did exist is not news. So the majority of fellows of the project would have insisted the did exist, and the myther's biased the proceedings. I said the proceedings would be used propaganda for atheism and they apparently were. The real scholars did want to be part of that. I would like to know how they got involved with the Center for Inquiry. I'm sure the majority including Hoffmann did not set out to produce atheist propaganda. The rub, Hoffmann himself sums it up as to why this venture failed and why others like it will fail: "But the chief reason that it is....because they are examples of the perils of false collaboration: an incoherent anthology of opinion derived from the private prejudices and objectives of Jesus-makers." (emphasis mine).




[1] Metacrock,"Cracking The Jesus Myth Phony Scholarship Code." Atheistwatch

[2] Erich Vieth , "Expelled Founder Paul Kurtz Explains His Departure From The Center for inquiry," Dangerous Intersection: Human  Animals at the Crossroads.  ( October 2, 2010 )  blog URL:    http://dangerousintersection.org/2010/10/02/expelled-founder-paul-kurtz-explains-his-departure-from-the-center-for-inquiry/  (accessed 1/28/2016).

[3] I have made several posts on the Orwellian Nature of New Atheism:

[4] R. Joseph Hoffmann, . "Threnody: Rethinking the Thinking behind The Jesus Project", bibleinterp.com, October 2009, URL: http://www.bibleinterp.com/opeds/hoffman1044.shtml
( accessed 1/30/16).