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THE VIRGIN BIRTH OF JESUS
Fact or fable?

Quotations:

"The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus by the Supreme Being
as his father, in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the
generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter." Thomas Jefferson, 1823. 1

Disbelief in the virgin birth has been referred to by many early Christian
writers as:
"madness and blasphemy" by Gennadius,
"madness" by Origen, 
"sacrilege" by St. Ambrose, 
"impiety and smacking of atheism" by Philostorgius,
"perfidy" by St. Bede,
"full of blasphemies" by the author of Prædestin,
"perfidy of the Jews" by Pope Siricius,
"heresy" by St. Augustine.


Overview:

From about 80 CE to the present time, most faith groups within the Christian
religion have taught that Jesus was conceived by his mother Mary, before she
engaged in sexual intercourse. Some groups have taught that Mary lived, gave
birth to Jesus and died while still a virgin. This is believed to have been
accomplished by the action of the Holy Spirit, without an act of sexual
intercourse. 
The Anglican Communion, Eastern Orthodoxy, Protestantism and Roman
Catholicism have taught various beliefs about the virgin birth. This doctrine
is usually called the virgin birth, although the term virgin conception would
be much more accurate. This has long been one of the church's foundational
beliefs, along with the inerrancy of the Bible, and the atonement,
resurrection and the anticipated second coming of Jesus. Church creeds have
mentioned it.

Liberal theologians have generally rejected the virgin birth, and classify it
as a religious myth that was added to Christian belief to make the religion
more competitive with contemporary Pagan religions in the Mediterranean
region.


Topics covered in this section:

The Virgin Birth: Part 1:
The immaculate conception
Jesus conception and his "brothers"
Biblical passages about the virgin birth
The virgin birth in Islam
The virgin birth in church creeds
Beliefs of conservative Christians

 The Virgin Birth: Part 2:
Beliefs of liberal Christians
Beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church
Beliefs of American & British clergy and public

 Beliefs of various Christian denominations on Jesus' conception and paternity
(Roman Catholics, Mormons, other Protestants, religious liberals)


http://www.religioustolerance.org/virgin_b.htm

--------------
It's all one paragraph, below, because it's a summary of a chapter from a
book written in 1922.
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Chapter III - OTHER STORIES OF VIRGIN BIRTHS


Synopsis: A Virgin Birth story not new at the time when the Gospels were
written. Mythology is full of such stories. Gods who lived on earth as mortal
men all had such stories told of them. An Egyptian Virgin Birth story told
about two thousand years before Christianity was founded, with many details
identical with those to be found in the Gospel stories. Another virgin
goddess and child. The virgin birth of Horus. Statuettes of the virgin Isis
and the child Horus used to represent Mary and the infant Jesus. Other
pre-Christian figures similarly employed. The miraculous birth of Apis. The
virgin mother of Ra. The virgin births of Attis, of Dionysos, of Jason, and
of Perseus. The religions in vogue at the time when Christianity arose. How
all the men-gods worshipped in these religions were said to have been
miraculously born. Adonis, Osiris, and Mithra. Legend about Plato's virgin
birth. Glorification of virginity. The story of Hypermnestra. Unicorns and
virgins. Vestal virgins. Chinese myth about the race being descended from a
virgin mother. The virgin birth of Gautama, the Buddha. Details of this story
which correspond to the later Christian story. Rama's miraculous birth. The
virgin and otherwise remarkable births of many other Indian divinities. The
Pandavas, Karna, Kansa, Kartikeya, Garuda, Ganesa, Marisha. A god incarnate
in a human being so late as the seventeenth century. Kings looked upon as
gods and assuming divine titles and honours. Legends about their births. Sons
of gods. The Pharaohs. Alexander the Great. The love of gods for mortal
women; Silvia and the god Mars. Rhea Silvia, the mother of Romulus and Remus.
Laymen and priests posing as the divine lovers. Examples in fact and in
fiction. Mundus. The god Astrabacus. The birth of Hercules. Nectanebus. Women
as mistresses of the gods. Mortals hailed as gods and given divine titles.
Ptolemy. Lysander. Demetrius and others. The rise of new religions in the
East. Legends of the virgin or otherwise unusual births of great conquerors
or their ancestors. Zingis Khan. Togrul Beg, the Seljuk. Nurhachu. Targitaus.
Scythes. Sargon. Gudea. Caesar. Macduff. The virgin or otherwise remarkable
births of the founders of the great world-religions. Lao-Tzu. Confucius.
Zoroaster. (Mohammed.) The virgin birth of Terebinthus, the legendary
originator of the doctrines of Manes. An ephemeral legend about St. Dominic.
A Christian sect which believes that John the Baptist was conceived by a
kiss. Fairy tales about the miraculous impregnation of women. A tale from
Sicily. Danae. A Siberian tale. General belief in the truth of such stories.
How gossip spreads, and how some people boast of seeing things which have
never occurred. The virgin-birth stories of Mexico. Huitzilopotchli. The
birth of gods and goddesses fully armed. Karna. Athena. Conception by the
touch of a flower. Mars. The virgin mother Here, and the recovery of her
virginity when lost. Stories from the South Pacific, from China, and from
North America. A virgin-born being who lives a life of self-sacrifice for the
good of others. Gods incarnate in animals. Archaic virgin-birth myths.
Sources of the myths. Phallicism. Astronomy. The virgin goddesses and the
mothers of the gods in Roman and Greek mythology. Mary as "the mother of
God," a refined version of the older conceptions. Christian attempts to give
a spiritual explanation of the story of a physical act. The physiology of
conception.

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/6868/sh0000a.html


http://www.geocities.com/paulntobin/virgin.html