Religion is supposed to be about God, before all other things. If you put God first everything else will fall into place.
That is completely incorrect. "Theology" is about God(s). "Religion" is about Man's relationship with his God(s). Pagans and idolaters do have a "religion" you know

"in Barnabas' Gospel, Jesus was not crucified, it was Judas who took the rap for him." Slap yourself.
Why? I did not write it, nor am I so stupid and arrogant as to deny that someone else did.................some 1800 years ago.

What RoadClosed and myself find interesting is that we now have two "alternative accounts" to those given in the three Synoptic Gospels and the Gospel of St. John.

I do not find this unusual given the historical context. Judas was a Zealot ...............this was a political organisation, and represented the Jewish resistance to Roman Imperial rule.

The mainstream Jews were awaiting a "messiah" or "saviour". They expected a political/military leader such as Joshua, who would overthrow the Roman occupation. Jesus was a holistic, theological and philosophical leader who preached pacifism ("render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and to God that which is God's")

It was the Zealots who felt betrayed by Jesus.................

So, with Christianity rapidly gathering popular support, it is hardly surprising that the Zealot "spin doctors" of the day should start to come up with more politically favourable accounts?

I also find it interesting that the Essenes (a fringe Jewish sect) had no such problems. They were expecting two messiahs, one political and the other religious. This demonstrates that the concept of separating church and state is a lot older than some people think.