Re your claims about the census firstly there is solid evidence that the Romans required a census every fourteen years because that s the interval between recorded censuses One such census is known to have occurred around the time that the birth of Jesus would have occurred Secondly Galilee would not have been exempt since even virtually autonomous cities like Apamea in Syria were not exempt despite having almost complete self governance Thirdly a Roman edict from G Vibius Maximus concerning a similar Roman census says explicitly that citizens were required to return to their home town just as it says in the Bible Fourthly the same edict says that each man had to bring his entire family with him just as it says in the Bible