Many religious folks adopt an almost antagonistic, defensive stance towards even the bare-bones notion of similarities between Jesus’ story and other historical-mythological figures. But it remains an undeniable fact that many elements of Jesus’ story- the virgin birth, an incarnate god, a redeemer of humanity, a trial of pain and death, the resurrection to life in a new form, and so on- are found in numerous cultures around the globe and well before the time of Jesus.