
Kenneth Humphreys 2005 book Jesus Never Existed, based on his 2001 launched site JesusNeverExisted.com, wherein he expounds on the historical views of some that Jesus never existed, i.e. that he was not a real person, but a mythical figure.

Kenneth Humphreys 2005 book Jesus Never Existed, based on his 2001 launched site JesusNeverExisted.com, wherein he expounds on the historical views of some that Jesus never existed, i.e. that he was not a real person, but a mythical figure.

In non-existences, Jesus never existed refers to the studied, thought out, and or reasoned opinion, e.g. silent historians problem, Osiris-Horus overlaps, god character rescripts, etc., that Jesus Christ (0-33AD), the supposed-to-have-existed figurehead of Christianity, "never existed" as a real person, but rather is a post ad hoc character invention; the term "achristism", similar to atheism, is disbelief in the existence of Jesus and or Christ.

Overview
In c.170AD, Lucian, in his Passing of Peregrinus, gave one of the first secular, i.e. real person, accounts of the existence of Christians as a distinct actual faith common to a group of people who considered each other brothers; the gist of which is as follows: [1]

“The Christians, you know, worship a man to this day—the distinguished personage who introduced their novel rites, and was crucified on that account. … You see, these misguided [deluded] creatures start with the general conviction that they are immortal for all time, which explains their contempt of death and voluntary self-devotion which are so common among them; and then it was impressed on them by their original lawgiver that they are all brothers, from the moment that they are converted, and deny the gods of Greece, and worship the crucified sage, and live after his laws. All this they take quite on faith, with the result that they despise all worldly goods alike, regarding them merely as common property.”

There is, however, to note, no evidence that this “crucified sage”, referred to here by Lucian, was a real person, but rather a recension theory meld, blend, god-man anthropomorphized syncretism of the previous crucified gods (see: Osiris rescripts) of the period (see: supreme god timeline), namely: Serapis (Vespasian, 69AD), Osiris (Nero, 54AD), Dionysus (Ptolemy IV, 204BC), Serapis (Osiris-Apis), Ptolemy II, 250BC), Amen-Ra / Horus; Serapis (Ptolemy I, 305BC), all of which derive from Osiris and the apparent rising of the Orion constellation and the bulk mythology associate with this. The gist of this is that there was a Roman recension in the works; retrospect historical commentary, accordingly, has worked to assign an actual "person" to this movement, which is as about as creditable as aiming to assign an actual person to any of the other religious recensions dating previous, back to 3,100BC.

In 1514, Pope Leo X classified Christ as a fable (see: Christ fable).

In the early 19th century, thinkers to state their researched opinion that Jesus never existed are the following:

“I have dictated thirty pages on the world's three religions; and I have read the Bible. My own opinion is made up. I do not think Jesus Christ ever existed. I would believe in the Christian religion if it dated from the beginning of the world. That Socrates, Plato, the Mohammedan, and all the English should be damned is too absurd. Jesus was probably put to death, like many other fanatics who proclaimed themselves to be prophets or the expected Messiah. Every year there were many of these men.”
— Napoleon Bonaparte (1817), “Dialogue with Gaspard Gourgaud”, Apr [1]

“Thou hast in this pamphlet all the sufficient evidence, that can be adduced for any piece of history a thousand years old, or to prove an error of a thousand years standing, that such a person as Jesus Christ never existed; but that the earliest Christians meant the words to be nothing more than a personification of the principle of reason, of goodness, or that principle, be it what it may, which may most benefit mankind in the passage through life.”
— Robert Taylor (1828), Syntagma of the Evidences of the Christian Religion [2]

“Such a person as Jesus Christ, alleged to have been of Nazareth, never existed; the Christian religion has no such origin as has been pretended; neither is it in any way beneficial to mankind; but that it is nothing more than an emanation from the ancient Pagan religion.”
— Robert Taylor (1829), “Debate Circular”, Sent to leading Clergyman of Cambridge (Ѻ)

In 2001, Kenneth Humphreys, being inspired (Ѻ) by: Earl Doherty (The Jesus Puzzle, 1999); Dorothy Murdock (The Christ Conspiracy, 1999); Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy (The Jesus Mysteries, 1999); George Wells (The Jesus Myth / The Jesus Legend, 1999); Arthur Drews (The Christ Myth, 1910); Robert M. Price (Deconstructing Jesus, 2000); Hyam Maccoby (The Mythmaker: Paul & the Invention of Christianity, 1987); Burton Mack (Who Wrote the New Testament?, 1995); and Elaine Pagels (The Gnostic Gospels, 1979), launched: JesusNeverExisted.com, which turned (Ѻ) 2014 book. [3]

Presently, according to recent polls, 92% of Americans (Ѻ) think Jesus was a real person who actually existed and 60% of British (Ѻ) think Jesus was a real person.

References
1. (a) Bonaparte, Napoleon. (1817). “Comment to Gaspard Gourgaud”, Apr.
(b) Gougaud, Gaspard. (1898). Talks of Napoleon at St. Helena with General Baron Gourgaud: Together with the Journal Kept by Gourgaud on Their Journey from Waterloo to St. Helena (pg. 276). Nabu Press, 2012.
(c) Haught, James A. (1996). 2000 Years of Disbelief: Famous People with the Courage to Doubt (pg. 109). Prometheus.
2. Taylor, Robert. (1828). Syntagma: of the Evidences of the Christian Religion (Preface) (Ѻ). Publisher.
3. (a) Main – JesusNeverExisted.com.
(b) Humphrey, Kenneth. (2005). Jesus Never Existed: an Introduction to Ultimate Heresy. Publisher, 2014.

External links
● Do atheists think Jesus existed as a real person? (2016) – Reddit.