Abel. He was the first human to die; in fact to be murdered. This set a precedent that continues today.
That is, if you believe all of that.
What precedent? Like, Yeah , you can get murdered by your brother, and he’ll get away with a warning?
I don’t see how it benefited society.
Nah, the precedent of if you get too cosy with the fascist powers that be and through this relationship accumulate disproportionate power and assets over your fellow Man, you gonna get got. Viva la Revolución !
Tsk, tsk…Cain went on to compose a Lament/Boast, so, he obviously was rehabilitated. Plus, we don’t want to convict an innocent man.
Or if it is fictional.
Pope John Paul I.
He got better.
Never seen this explication before in any work on theology, but I will take it to my heart; it fits my ideological stance. Thx!
:rolleyes: Why do atheists always feel the need to make these digs?
Just FYI, most serious historians are of the opinion that there really was a preacher named Yeshua who was crucified by the Romans. You might not believe in the miracle stories, but he is certainly not “fictional.”
Because there is scant evidence to think this person ever existed, and no good evidence to think this person was the son of a deity. The OP is about real people, and I see no evidence to think this person was real, or that the narrative of his death and resurrection is not a fiction.
Considering that there were people writing about him fairly soon after his death (within a generation) I’d say there is as much evidence that he was a real person as pretty much anyone who lived over 2000 years ago. As for whether or not he was the son of God, what does that have to do with anything other than fishing for theists? It certainly has zero to do with this thread. I’d say Jesus is a good candidate for the answer to the OP, since Christianity had a huge impact on society for the last several thousand years, and since it was basically Jesus death that triggered the explosion.
Stalin. There is a theory he didn’t died of natural causes, he was poisoned with warfarin by Beria (his head of security) because Stalin was planning a jewish pogrom (possibly on the scale of what the nazis did), a massive purge of the leadership in the USSR and a potential nuclear war with the US. If true his death saved millions of lives.
Scant evidence is still evidence. I gather that you wish to dismiss that scant evidence altogether. That is after you dismiss the massive amounts of evidence in the New Testament because you don’t think it amounts to scant.
How about, there is no evidence, or only scant evidence, that one of your great-great-great-great-great grandmothers existed? Does that mean you don’t exist because she was entirely made up?
For my entry into the OP’s question, I’ll go with William McKinley dying and Teddy Roosevelt becoming President. With TR’s government regulation movement, including the FDA and more than a century of progressiveness, he has saved more lives than anyone else as the direct result of someone (McKinley) dying.
The op clearly says benefit…Which would be a whole nother debate entirely.
Care to give reasons or are we just randomly throwing out names of famous people?
I thought JP1 was expected to be quite progressive, and that his death led to the election of the conservative JP2. I’m struggling to see how that benefitted society, but I’d be interested to read your arguments.
It’s really the same debate as this one. I suppose it hinges on whether you think the modern western world is a good thing or a bad one for humanity, and whether you think we’d have gotten here in the same way without Jesus dying when and how he did and spawning Christianity.
It’s certainly had a huge impact, regardless, and it was certainly all sparked by a single death, so I think it’s at least a viable debate point to posit Jesus as an answer to the OP.
I was thinking of scientists and test pilots when I posted the OP. That people would nominate Jesus didn’t occur to me smack
Now I’m fairly convinced that this thread isn’t the place where suddenly everyone’s going to agree on the legacy of Christianity or the existence or non-existence of its protagonists. So let us say we ignore religious figures for now eh?
Ogedei Khan. Had he lived fifteen more years, the Mongol empire would have extended to the Atlantic.
I personally don’t think that would have been such a bad thing.