John Remsburg John Eleazer Remsburg ( January 7 , 1848 – 1919 ) was an ardent religious skeptic in America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries . His name is sometimes spelled Remsberg . Life . Remsburg was born in Fremont , Ohio , a son of George J . and Sarah A . ( Willey ) Remsburg . He enlisted in the Union army at the age of sixteen during the American Civil War . On October 9 , 1870 , he married Miss Nora M . Eiler of Atchison , Kansas . He was a teacher for 15 years , a superintendent of public instruction in Atchison County , Kansas for four years , then a writer and lecturer in support of free thought , his lectures being translated into German , French , Bohemian , Dutch , Swedish , Norwegian , Bengali and Singalese . He was also a life member of the American Secular Union , of which he was president from 1897 – 1900 , and a member of the Kansas State Horticultural Society . Among the many books Remsburg authored include : " Life of Thomas Paine " ( 1880 ) ; " The Image Breaker " ( 1882 ) ; " False Claims " , ( 1883 ) ; " Bible Morals " ( 1884 ) ; " Sabbath Breakers " ( 1885 ) ; " The Fathers of Our Republic " ( 1886 ) ; " Was Lincoln a Christian " ( 1893 ) ; " Was Washington a Christian " ( 1899 ) ; " The Bible " ( 1903 ) ; " Six Historic Americans " ( 1906 ) ; and " The Christ " ( 1909 ) . Views . Remsburg was a rationalist and critic of morality as found in the Bible . Although he lived in Atchison , Kansas , that town ’ s library has no copies of his work , according to Fred Whitehead in " Freethought History " ( # 2 , 1992 ) . In " Bible Morals " , he cited twenty crimes and vices sanctioned by scripture . In his " The Bible " , he condemns as pernicious and false such Biblical views as : " Blessed are the poor in spirit ; Blessed are the meek , for they shall inherit the earth ; If thy right eye offend thee , pluck it out ; If thy right hand offend thee , cut it off ; Whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery ; Resist not evil ; Whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek , turn to him the other also ; Love your enemies ; Lay not up for yourselves treasurers upon earth ; Take no thought for your life , what ye shall eat , or what he shall drink , nor yet for your body , what ye shall put on ; Take therefore no thought for the morrow . " Such views , combined with the name of Christ , Remsburg held , have caused more persecutions , wars , and miseries than any other . Remsburg " delivered over 3 , 000 lectures , speaking in fifty - two States , Territories and Provinces , and in 1 , 250 different cities and towns , including every large city of United States and Canada . " " The Christ : A Critical Review and Analysis of the Evidence of His Existence " was reprinted in 1994 and was republished under the title " Christ Myth " in 2007 . Role in Christ Myth debate . In recent years a list of forty - two names from the " Silence of Contemporary Writers " chapter of " The Christ " ( sometimes called the " Remsberg List " ) has appeared in several books regarding the nonhistoricity hypothesis by authors such as James Patrick Holding , Hilton Hotema , Jawara D . King , Madalyn Murray O ' Hair , D . M . Murdock and Robert M . Price , Asher Norman , Frank Zindler , Tim C . Leedom " et al " , as well as appearing in some 200 blog posts regarding the nonhistoricity hypothesis . This " Remsburg List " was improved upon in 2012 with the book " No Meek Messiah , " augmenting the number of " Silent Writers " to 126 . It must be mentioned that Remsburg stated " Jesus of Nazareth , the Jesus of humanity , the pathetic story of whose humble life and tragic death has awakened the sympathies of millions , is a possible character and may have existed ; but the Jesus of Bethlehem , the Christ of Christianity , is an impossible character and does not exist . " Furthermore in " The Christ a Myth " chapter Remsburg described myth as falling into three broad categories : historical , philosophical , and poetic ( a mixture of the previous two ) . Remsburg concluded the chapter by stating " While all Freethinkers are agreed that the Christ of the New Testament is a myth they are not , as we have seen , and perhaps never will be , fully agreed as to the nature of this myth . Some believe that he is a historical myth ; others that he is a pure myth . Some believe that Jesus , a real person , was the germ of this Christ whom subsequent generations gradually evolved ; others contend that the man Jesus , as well as the Christ , is wholly a creation of the human imagination . After carefully weighing the evidence and arguments in support of each hypothesis the writer , while refraining from expressing a dogmatic affirmation regarding either , is compelled to accept the former as the more probable . " In the " The Christ a Myth " chapter , Remsburg also stated : " The conceptions regarding the nature and character of Christ , and the value of the Christian Scriptures as historical evidence , are many , chief of which are the following 1 . Orthodox Christians believe that Christ is a historical character , supernatural and divine ; and that the New Testament narratives , which purport to give a record of his life and teachings , contain nothing but infallible truth . 2 . Conservative Rationalists , like Renan , and the Unitarians , believe that Jesus of Nazareth is a historical character and that these narratives , eliminating the supernatural elements , which they regard as myths , give a fairly authentic account of his life . 3 . Many radical Freethinkers believe that Christ is a myth , of which Jesus of Nazareth is the basis , but that these narratives are so legendary and contradictory as to be almost if not wholly , unworthy of credit . 4 . Other Freethinkers believe that Jesus Christ is a pure myth — that he never had an existence , except as a Messianic idea , or an imaginary solar deity . "