On a non-religious DB I post on, they were discussing this; a poll showed 75% said, "It's just a fiction book, get over it."
As HappyDad said, is history "dead on"?
I watched a show on the history channel and I'm not convinced even %5 is true based the methods of weighing historical evidence.
There are basically 4 sources of history (other than archeological objects):
1) Documents written by people who lived then..supposing they tell the truth and aren't influenced to tell the story that is PC or safe to tell (e.g., say what the Pope says or die).
2) Documents written by people about 50 years after the event (some people still living that fit the 1st category but it might be safer now to tell the truth)
3) Documents written by people who never lived during that time, never knew people who did and have to rely on information from category 1 and 2 sorting out the "lies."
4) Documents written by people based on documents written by people about documents written by people in category 1 and 2. (this is the worst kind of historical source).
This is assuming that the documents have been investigated carefully and found to be reliable.
Reminds you of checking the Bible's authenticity.....?
Blondie (it's just a fiction book)