Was Jesus Christ a government invention?

Hat tip to Joe Jervis.

Well, this is interesting:

"...[A]ncient confessions recently uncovered now prove, according to Atwill, that the New Testament was written by first-century Roman aristocrats and that they fabricated the entire story of Jesus Christ."

Apparently this is for real. At least, "American biblical scholar Joseph Atwill" says so. He'll be defending his research at a conference to be held in London later this month. The link explains it all. But in case you're not a link-clicker, here's the gist:

Atwill asserts that Christianity did not really begin as a religion, but a sophisticated government project, a kind of propaganda exercise used to pacify the subjects of the Roman Empire. "Jewish sects in Palestine at the time, who were waiting for a prophesied warrior Messiah, were a constant source of violent insurrection during the first century," he explains. "When the Romans had exhausted conventional means of quashing rebellion, they switched to psychological warfare. They surmised that the way to stop the spread of zealous Jewish missionary activity was to create a competing belief system. That's when the 'peaceful' Messiah story was invented. Instead of inspiring warfare, this Messiah urged turn-the-other-cheek pacifism and encouraged Jews to 'give onto Caesar' and pay their taxes to Rome."

Veddy inteddesting, no? I'm not a biblical scholar, so I guess I'll wait to see how this plays out. The Catholic church (and all other Christian denominations) must be thrilled. Let's hope it's true.