Ah, a big splash in theological circles, at last!
Dan
I can speak to the Hindu perspective and this characterization is wrong.
Before there were any Christians, it was a Hindu who visited Jesus at his birth bearing gifts (aka St Caspar). So most Hindus have heard about Jesus, and Christians have not spared any effort witnessing.
Most Hindus do not have any problems acknowledging Jesus’s divinity, but they totally reject the Christian idea of “my way is the only way”. Many would say Jesus is another God or holy person and would love to learn his teachings.
Here’s Mark Twain’s take of why Christianity is not readily accepted in India :
This is just a post-Biblical legend, the Gospels mention nothing about the number, the names or the exact origin of the magi, other than that they came from the East.
Hey you believe what you want and Hindus and Catholics believe what they want. I have no problem with that.
I have no problem with many of the stories in the Bible plagiarized from Zoarastrianism either
Well sure, everybody believes what they want (and for the record, I don’t believe any of it), I just wanted to point out that the identity of the magi isn’t Biblical though many people believe it is (see their shrine in the Cologne cathedral, stolen in the 13th century from Milano and assuring a constant flow of pilgrims and thus money).
I agree with your general point that it’s laughably wrong to think that the majority of non-Christian believers and atheists have never heard of Jesus. Western colonial missionaries have done their level best (or rather worst) for centuries to inform them about him.
ETA: caught another misconception here:
Every Muslim will have heard of Jesus because he’s one of the most important prophets for that faith.
I am no biblical scholar and most of my knowledge of Christianity comes from Catholic people. (Went to a Catholic school back in India). Catholic people believed in the Magi and even Wikipedia calls them Biblical Magi too - Biblical Magi - Wikipedia
Growing up, my school text books were hand me downs in tatters, but I was given shiny new bibles with great binding and golden edges from different denominations (most of these bibles were given by preachers who escorted us returning from school) . But that’s a story for another day.
As an adult, I toured Italy and went to the Vatican city. There I found smoke arising from the buildings that was almost the same smoke as I have been used to in many Hindu temples. Turns out it was frankincense, the same stuff you will find in a Kolkata temple or celebration !! This frankincense originates in India and is a gum from a tree !
Digging a little deeper, it turns out that in the story of the Biblical Magi , the Wise Man from India brings Frankincense for Mother Mary. Growing up in India, it is very common to give new mothers Frankincense because it is believed to help in healing / and is anti-inflammatory. This is especially true in North/Northwest India.
So whoever wrote about the Wise Men bringing presents to Mother Mary, knew about what a guy coming from India would bring to a new mother !! I find that fascinating.
Which if any of the wildly varying human conceptions of God are you most like?
– further questions would have to depend on the answer(s) to that one.
Bertrand Russell said (paraphrased): “There are as many religions as there are people”. So I would ask the entity: “Are you my god?”
“Nope. Three Universes down, make a right, go 201,238,904,871 stars, It’ll be on your left. Knock first.”
“God, why do so many Christians think that the Immaculate Conception refers to Jesus’s virgin birth rather than Mary’s conception? In fact, I don’t think I’ve come across a Christian who knows this, other than pastors and such. Don’t You think You should clarify that for them?”
I knew that’s what the Immaculate Conception was, first from my Catholic mother, reinforced by my Lutheran bible study pastor - but he told me this directly, not the whole class of us.
I’d ask, “who died and made you God?”