I think what is missing here is understanding the burden of proof. "The burden of proof concerning physical claims is with those making the positive assertion. If someone claims that the gospel fairy tales are based on a real historical figure, they have the burden of proof. And those making the claim can't cite a single historically valid piece of evidence for the assertion. For instance, the gospels are not historically credible accounts, etc. Another item that I see being left out of discussions is when people will assert what "Paul wrote" or "Josephus said", etc. We have nothing written by the original authors. All we have are manuscripts written by Christian scribes that are claimed to be accurate representations of the original manuscripts of the original authors. Are they? Again, the burden of proof is on the person making such a claim. We have plenty of evidence that the Christian scribes who wrote these manuscript were guilty of extensive forgery and fraud, were highly biased, etc. Bart Ehrman has written extensively on this, which is why I find ironic that he will cite the gospel of Mark, for instance, as a piece of evidence for a historical Jesus, while also admitting that it is not historically valid. In the case of Josephus or Tacitus, our earliest manuscripts are from the 11rh century, written by Christian scribes. Considering that we don't have a single complete manuscript dated earlier than hundreds of years after the supposed events, and every piece of supposed evidence was written by Christian scribes with a reputation for forgery and fraud, it seems obvious that agnosticism about a historical Jesus is warranted.