Do atheists tend to view Jesus as a philosopher, or a fictional character?
The “historical” Jesus - Yeshua bar Yusuf, or someone like him - probably did exist, in Roman-occupied Judea in the early first century CE. There weren’t carpenters per se in nearly-treeless Galilee, but he might’ve been more akin to what we’d think of as a general handyman and day laborer. At some point he took up being an itinerant apocalyptic rabbi, who preached reform of Judaism.Judea of that time was a tinderbox, and apocalyptic rabbis and insurrectionist zealots were thick on the ground. The Romans had a full time task keeping them oppressed, and in the century after Jesus is purported to have died, open rebellion finally did break out, finally culminating in the destruction of Jerusalem and the siege of Masada.At some point this rabbi gained enough following to catch the notice of the Roman authorities and their Judean client-puppets. If he was crucified, it meant he was found guilty of sedition - crucifixion was a punishment reserved for rebellion and inciting rebellion.So that man is most likely a real person, I think. There’s little to no agreement about that among academics (which I’m certainly not), but I incline to think he was.The other guy - “Bible Jesus” for lack of a better term - is a creation of the stories told about him by his followers, family, and those like Saul of Tarsus who became enamored of his story after he was dead. He’s a fictional character. Sort of like the real frontier missionary John Chapman became the “Johnny Appleseed” of children’s stories.
Who is the main villain in Star Wars?
Hmmm a very general question shall get a very general answer.That depends on the era and who's perspective you are looking at. Like take a look at this picture:You can not just ask who is the main villain in Star Wars. The Star Wars universe has a very large history with many different factions and characters within it.More than likely you speak of the age old rivalry between the Jedi and the Sith.The Sith see themselves as the good guys and the Jedi see themselves as the good guys. While both groups saw the other as the villain. Much of Star Wars (movies) only allowed us to see just one side of the argument which was through the viewpoint of the Jedi.You may say oh Nathan it's Emperor Palpatine shut it. I beg to differ didn't our friend Luke Skywalker blow up an entire space station and not even hesitate in killing thousands of men and women. He also fought as a guerilla warfighter against the empire. The Jedi teach Peace but they sure fealt a whole lot like warmongers to me. Just look at the clone wars for Gods sake.All Emp Palpatine did was bring actual peace to the galaxy. If it were not for some pesky warmongering Jedi constantly wrecking havoc everywhere the galaxy would have prospered.So just like any real life conflict it just depends who's side you are on to determine who is the villain.
How do sci-fi authors get such elaborate details of planets and civilisations that they never lived in?
I can only speak to my own experience, but the short answer is you make it up as you go.The antagonistic faction in my book started life very simply: they were bad guys that had a religious vendetta against mankind. I built their religion - or at least the parts of it the book explored - around ideals that would cause them to hate humanity.Along the way, I made notes (mostly for my own amusement) regarding random aspects of their culture that sprang to mind. Variations on entertainment, art, social hierarchy, etc. that I thought would make them cool and unique.Once I started my second book, which explored a bit more of their backstory, I started molding these random ideas and the religious tenets I introduced in the first book to form a more cohesive culture. The exploration of their origins also allowed me to add more detail to their religion, thereby clarifying their motives.In the meantime, I took the random words I had made up for their language in the first book, derived rules from them, and began developing a proper language. I now have a complete grammatical guide and a growing dictionary.I’ve continued to add bits and pieces to their culture, to the point where I’m fairly confident I could answer any question regarding it. Most of this information will never see the light of day, since it’s not pertinent to the story, but it helps in writing these characters, and allows me to see a bigger picture than just what’s on the page.Hope this helps!