You can't live without religion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josephus_on_Jesus

"Modern scholarship has largely acknowledged the authenticity of the reference in Book 20, Chapter 9, 1 of the Antiquities to "the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James" and considers it as having the highest level of authenticity among the references of Josephus to Christianity."

 

There were many changes and editorial corrections as the direct references to Jesus were changed starting in the 13the century:

1) "Starting in the 13th century, manuscripts of the Talmud were sometimes altered in response to the criticisms made during the disputations, and in response to orders from the Christian church. Existing manuscripts were sometimes altered (for example, by erasure) and new manuscripts often omitted the passages entirely."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_in_the_Talmud

2) Thus, in 1631 the Jewish Assembly of Elders in Poland declared: ‘We enjoin you under the threat of the great ban to publish in no new edition of the Mishnah or the Gemara anything that refers to Jesus of Nazareth... If you will not diligently heed this letter, but run counter thereto and continue to publish our books in the same manner as heretofore, you might bring over us and yourselves still greater sufferings than in previous times.’

http://www.answering-islam.org/Shamoun/talmud_jesus.htm

 

So I read the wiki page. what I don't see is where the guy lived.

 

At the risk of bringing this thread somewhere near the topic, Paul observed that the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life; and surely religion pure and undefiled is a religion of life and not death...

...so how come religion, for the overwhelming majority of people, seems to be all about the letter?

 

what else is there, apart from social gratification and self-soothing? if there's a third thing, you'd need to demonstrate it's more tangible than a letter or a social club (church).