Martyrs: Food for Thought

I find religions to be interesting social institutions. I was raised Christian but see nothing wrong with questioning one's beliefs and searching for the truth with an open mind. I have a lot of respect for René Descartes and his method of attempting to prove philosophical truths by first removing all biased assumptions. Although ultimately I do accredit my belief in Jesus and the Bible to faith, I am interested in examining the evidence in order that it may not be a blind faith.

Just thought I'd share a little thought exercise here:

Several weeks ago I got to thinking about the Muslim extremists who have given their lives for their beliefs in the last few years. This strikes me as a great proof of faith, and begs the question "if they can believe in their religion so strongly that they are willing to give their lives for it, is that evidence for some truth behind it?" Of course many have given their lives for their beliefs. Jim Jones comes to mind as well as numerous reported Christians in states where Christianity is illegal and punishable by death. I think religious martyrs can be categorised into two main groups: those who have given their lives following a belief they were taught or raised with, and those who have given their lives following a religion which they had a role in the formation of. To make a legal metaphor, the first category parallels people with hearsay, and the second parallels people with primary evidence. Obviously the first category should be thrown out in this exercise because it is known that the human mind is manipulable to such an affect that some will give their lives for beliefs they have been taught. That leaves a category of religious martyrs such as Jim Jones, Marshall Applewhite, and Jesus: people who gave their lives knowing at the times of their deaths (because they were initial propagators of the religions) whether their beliefs were true or false. In my opinion, the suicides of the single-person religious leaders such as Jim Jones and Marshall Applewhite are somewhat convincing, but the affect is lost when one realises the great possibility that, because they were singularly responsible for their groups' existences, they possibly gave their lives purely out of psychological illness and/or hope for fame. In the case of Jesus' martyrdom, he died before his twelve apostles, not with them. They had been in close contact with him and in my opinion, after his death, would have known whether his beliefs and teachings were true or not. Eleven of the twelve (as Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus) became the leaders of the Christian movement, and ultimately died as martyrs, in the name of Christianity. Did they give their lives out of a pursuit of fame, out of ironically mutual mental illness, out of being brainwashed by Jesus to the point that his death did not stop their faith, or were Jesus' teachings and their accounts of Jesus' life actually true?