The Christian belief in the virgin birth of Jesus is derived from primitive myths about the virgin birth of gods and national heroes. Mercury was born of the virgin Maia; Attis of the virgin Nana; Horus of the virgin Isis and Romulus of the virgin Rhea Sylvia.

In his book God is not Great, Christopher Hitchens observed that Jesus made "large claims for his heavenly father but he never claimed virgin birth... Mary herself appears to have no memory of the Archangel Gabriel's visitation."

Thomas Jefferson predicted that "the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter."

 

John Guillaumier

St Julian's