Require the Mafia syntax to make everyone's life easier:

##VOTE bo_sox48

Locke. Won't win, but there you go. Can't vote for someone whose very claim to greatness I believe to be predicated upon a misunderstanding of the nature of reality

What, the fact that the largest religion in history is centered around him?

Jesus.

Because Locke shouldn't have made it this far, just like Olga.

Sorry, but having a religion centered around you is the accomplishment of others, not yourself.

Jesus

Jesus

Locke

Jesus.

Jesus should win this tournament. You don't have to be Christian to vote for him. You just have to read the Sermon on the Mount

Jesus, because he was a fantastic human being. That his religion gets mixed up in all sorts of bullshit is, to use goldie's words, "the accomplishment of others, not yourself."

Right. Jesus was a fantastic person. Locke was a person who was the cornerstone of the Enlightenment.

Locke headed a political movement that only gained traction because other people agreed with him and he was persuasive. Jesus headed a religious movement that only gained traction because other people agreed with him and he was persuasive. What's your point?

Locke's message is more important and had a bigger impact.

Jesus's message - fundamentally - is not all that different from that of Islam or Judaism.

I'm really unhappy about putting Jesus (or Mohammed or Buddha), respect to all of them, because whether they are against a 'normal' person or each other, for a person of faith, the only vote can be for the holy figure. So

abstain under protest

still agreeing with goldie. Ready to cast my vote:

John Locke

Reason: he got a double degree (undergrad in both cases, to link to a recent thread) and hence the score is a definite: 2:0 here.

@Thucy: did study it again, couldn't sway my vote (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slbMe-aTY1A)

"Locke's message is more important"

That's completely subjective. Locke made great points and wrote about great things, but Jesus' message was far more important in my eyes.

"[Locke] had a bigger impact"

Christianity took down polytheism in Rome. Christianity wreaked havoc on much of the world for hundreds of years. Christian history has become world history, and though that shouldn't be the case, it is. By the definition of "impact" and "greatness" you've been using this entire tournament, Jesus' message has clearly had a greater impact. Locke's message may someday but it hasn't had enough time to get there yet.

I vote Yeezy, erm, Jesus.

"Right. Jesus was a fantastic person. Locke was a person who was the cornerstone of the Enlightenment."

1. A cornerstone, not THE cornterstone...I think Kant and the like would have something to say about that...

2. I obviously prefer Locke, but it has to be Jesus, for bo_sox's reasons. (In fairness, Christianity's had plenty of good art and literature and given birth to good as well as bad...I obviously am not a fan, given that I'm a Jew and atheist, I'm just playing devil's advocate here.)

"Jesus's message - fundamentally - is not all that different from that of Islam or Judaism."

Yeah, no.

How is it not similar to Islam and Judaism? To use unnecessarily strong language, his teachings are basically a ripoff of Judaism.

Torah: Thou shalt not pity him, but shalt require life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Quran: And We ordained for them therein a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a nose for a nose, an ear for an ear, a tooth for a tooth, and for wounds is legal retribution.

Gospel: You have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you not to resist evil: but if one strike thee on thy right cheek, turn to him also the other

1. Why is monotheism an improvement over polytheism (except in AoE I)?

2. What did Jesus do that is more special than let's say Locke's exploits?

The whole point here is: Jesus was a serious offender of people of different faith or different ways of being faithful, calling them hypocrites, morons, scum, childish (and even claimed these were compliments). Now that I sum up his behaviour (quite sociopathic, isn't it?), he is no different from certain people on this forum.

No tolerance, heavy taxing of his croyants (he asked to be given everything material and immaterial), and spending it on prostitutes and wine. Further, he lived off other people's hard work and deliberately claimed this right, because some people just had to work so that he and his gal and his boys did not need to work.

I can't vote for such a person. At least I can't vote for her over Locke. If it were Jesus vs. Hitler, ofc, things would be different. If you attribute pieces of fine art to him, you should pin the perpetuated rape of little children by his staff as well. My personal view here is that both are merely circumstantial and are neither his merit nor his fault. But you won't get in the one without the other.

a) Abstain
b) Muslims view the teachings to have actually been Islam. However, the teachings that spread the little seedling that would become Christianity took root under Jesus (PBUH) and has since spread farther than the teachings of Locke.
c) Locke's work may be great revolutionary chatter, but the post-colonials found that Hobbes's teachings were far more practical in actually running a government.
d) Updated vote count:
Jesus (PBUH): 7
Lock: 4

I seriously hope you are joking...

^to Xenon

e) I knew X3n0n's link would be Life of Brian before I opened it.

bo, I won't dispute that Christianity has had a greater impact. That is clearly true. But my point is - why credit Jesus for the impact of Christianity? Jesus did not write the Bible. Jesus did not spread it to Rome. At least Mohammad personally spread Islam all throughout Arabia, so I would put him over Jesus in a head-to-head.

Locke can be credited slightly more for the spread of his ideals since he actually wrote the texts and directly influenced many powerful individuals. With Jesus, most of what spread Christianity was done many many years after his death, by people who had never met him.

Who knocked out Muhammad? I forget.

Locke's work is only worth mentioning because of the work of others, specifically Hobbes as I believe TrPrado said (too lazy to look back, so if it was someone else, sorry), and his work has been far less impactful, since you care about that. Based on my own criteria, Jesus was the better person. Locke was great too and deserves to be here.