Well, I don't think I can go so far as to agree that JC existed, but I'm fine with you saying he did as long as you realize we don't agree, etc.
I do note in your quote that Jesus wasn't upset by slavery, so any forward thinking generated by his words were tempered by his willingness to support another rather unpleasant human hobby. I guess maybe we should be happy with baby steps, though.
And his words don't mean much if his current followers (and I realize you are no fan of religion itself, or at least that is what I think I understand from other posts of yours), anyway, his current followers are far less likely to give women the equality most of here (including you) think they should have. So his ability to influence people seems tempered by what they want to do, regardless of what he says. Which means that if he was real, he wasn't very good at what he did, as sons of gods go. I would expect a bit more emphasis on the "do it or else" part or something. Again, if real, his influence has been watered down by a wide variety of believers who have pimped their religion to be what they want, not what a god might want. At least I assume the wide variety in christian beliefs, practices, social goals, etc. is a bit too broad to be pleasing any actual deities.
As I'm sure you understand, we see the bible as just one of many sacred texts, most of which you would agree are not related to any real gods. We add the bible to that list, you don't. Great wisdom exists in the books of the jews, the hindus, and yes, even the muslims. And there is some in the bible as well. But all of those religions, including yours, also make claims that go far beyond the believable, and which make each story something that requires faith, because none of the more fantastic claims of any of the books can be proven.
Now if we were not an atheist site because there were no religions, but you were joining us because we were having a discussion about the history of women's rights, and you wanted to bring up the Jesus story as an example of ancient texts where the stories being told seem to indicate that long, long ago there were people who seemed to want to treat women as equals, that might be of interest, myth/folklore/ancient wisdom-wise. But as realities go, we atheists aren't too good at accepting anything on faith, so otherwise the story is of little use. Especially since it would be pretty hard for you to show that followers of Jesus are doing anything positive about the issue. I'm not saying none are, but there is a huge swath of christians who most certainly pay attention to other parts of the bible that seem to indicate that males are more important than females. And that is relevant today.
Oh, one more thing. The washing of the feet thing was a cultural norm that Jesus was willing to participate in. Even though he was going against other norms. Again, that would be fine if it were part of some sort of effort to baby-step society to a better place. But I'm guessing he enjoyed it.
Which at least proves he wasn't ticklish. If he existed.
