I’ve often wondered the same ...having read Madalyn M-O’Hair’s comment in AA Magazine going something like, ‘in the past there were thousands of gods,’ ‘so we’re no longer that far apart,’ ‘I only believe in one fewer than you.’

As I ponder those I’m told believe in a god, it’s apparent they rarely question the concept ..because it’s telling them what they want to hear. Like children never wanting to grow up, apparently they find comfort or security pretending there’s an all knowing preacher or ‘god’ doing their thinking ...or protecting them from reality..

Watching them scoff at Greek ‘gods,’ or the ‘creation myths’ of other cultures further exhibits their hypocritical ‘beliefs.’ I’ve met many an ultra-meek librarian steeped in knowledge ..yet too weak to disseminate it beyond the near silent suggestion ... ‘you read this.’ The knowledge is there, if gathering dust..

Most are not interested in their own religion, if they can go though the motions and they can convince themselves that it makes the happy, though whether it does so is open to question, why should they bother with anything else. Especially if it is difficult and could force you to do things you don't like, such as thinking, best avoided.

But in any case how would you encourage it, especially as the worlds political establishments are increasingly turning away from the teaching and encouragement of history as a subject in education. First because they do not see a knowledge of history as of any practical value in the wage slaves needed to serve them in the lower functions, and because such knowledge would only make them questioning and difficult to manipulate anyway.

The "virgin birth" story does not appear in the gospel of Mark. which is acknowledged as the first written so was probably added to later gospels to make Jesus appear more "godlike". but as you say willful ignorance is endemic in believers.

It won't matter to the "faithful", because, in the words of one member at my ex-wife's church, "Those were just mythological gods. Jesus is True." The power to believe in one's own version of myth is self-blinding.

(Notice how similar this is to the belief in one's own politicians or in conspiracy theories, no matter how many facts are laid out in contradiction.
It's cognitive dissonance, and atheists/agnostics have it too. Human nature generally settles on a view of the universe, and woe betide anyone who tries to shake it. It takes incredible intellectual honesty to critique one's own beliefs as one would critique anyone else's.)

Sumerian religious lore is almost verbatim in parts of the babble!