“The Defense calls the The Holy Ghost…”
Jesus Christ is on trial in Italy. You heard it here first (unless you already heard it somewhere else).
Once upon a time, Luigi Cascioli studied to be a Catholic priest. Luckily, he figured out the scam somewhere along the way and became a militant atheist. This led to him writing a book called The Fable of Christ (€8 in PDF), in which he argues that there is no substantive evidence for the actual existence of Jesus of Nazareth. When Cascioli was denounced in Father Enrico Righi’s parish newsletter, the author filed suit against the priest for “abuse of popular credulity” and “impersonation,” both of which are crimes according to Italian law.
At first, the judge didn’t want to hear the case. However, the appeals court ruled that Cascioli’s action is reasonable, and Father Righi must appear in court on April 29 to produce evidence that Jesus both existed and was the son of god.
As with any issue that has the slightest chance of them being proven wrong, the Vatican has not issued a statement on the case. However, Father Righi has a bit to say on the subject.
Father Righi said there was overwhelming testimony to Christ’s existence in religious and secular texts. Millions had in any case believed in Christ as both man and Son of God for 2000 years.
“If Cascioli does not see the sun in the sky at midday, he cannot sue me because I see it and he does not,” Father Righi said.
Father, I sincerely hope you’re planning to do better than that in court. I don’t know the penalty for abusing popular credulity, but if it involves jail time, that kind of “evidence” will have you crying like an altar boy before long. Since you have a direct line to god, perhaps you should arrange for a personal appearance.
I will keep a close eye on this case and let you know about any developments.
~I AM~
January 3rd, 2006 at at 10:50 pm
I did hear about this somewhere else first. But it is interesting isn’t it?
January 4th, 2006 at at 9:27 am
He’s gonna have a harder time than the IDers at Dover.
January 4th, 2006 at at 10:13 am
This’ll be a fun transcript to watch for. Wish I spoke Italian.
January 4th, 2006 at at 2:19 pm
This is going to be real hard case to prove without the body.
January 4th, 2006 at at 3:14 pm
Do you mean the Body of Christ?
IF: Church = Bride of Christ
AND: Christians = Body of Christ
THEN: Atheists = Abortion?
January 4th, 2006 at at 4:53 pm
Hahaha, that’s hilarious.
January 4th, 2006 at at 10:18 pm
I read this and immediately thought this would be a job for the Monty Python Boys. Of course I think that about everything, so what? JIM
January 4th, 2006 at at 10:42 pm
But Jim, no one would ever expect the Inquisition!
January 5th, 2006 at at 3:27 am
Interesting. Brave move, especially for an Italian. The number one piece of evidence for the existence of christ would be “but so many people believe in him, he MUST be real - how could millions of people be wrong?” We have been trying to figure that one out for a very long time…
January 5th, 2006 at at 3:28 am
Hm, looks like I don’t know how to use HTML code. Oh well, at least I don’t believe in god(s).
January 5th, 2006 at at 10:53 am
This could be better than Dover. How many Christians have ever bothered to think abot the bodily existense of Christ?.
How many christians have bothered to think.
Belief short-circuits the brain.
January 5th, 2006 at at 11:46 am
Do the Italians have habeas corpus in their legal system?
Now THAT I’d like to see! hehe
January 5th, 2006 at at 1:13 pm
I’m amazed this is happening in italy - now SWEDEN I could understand. I’d love to move there one day - something like 66% declared atheist/agnostic rate.
January 5th, 2006 at at 3:42 pm
This should prove to be interesting. I’m surprised the judge actually decided to hear the case.
January 5th, 2006 at at 5:57 pm
The thing about Italy you need to remember is……………..
virtually 100% catholic
home of catholic faith
catholic church dictates that birth control is the same as abortion
Italy, home to the lowest birth rate in Europe…
hmmmmm, hard to imagine a country of Italians NOT having sex…
January 5th, 2006 at at 6:18 pm
The secular world is just asking for trouble now. Doesn’t anyone remember the trial in ‘Oh, God’ where George Burns shows up in court at the last minute to prove his existence? Now we’re not only going to have to hear about how wrong we all were about this whole atheism thing, but they’ll probably also start showing re-runs of the George Burns & Gracie Allen Show.
January 5th, 2006 at at 11:24 pm
Interesting. Brave move, especially for an Italian. The number one piece of evidence for the existence of christ would be “but so many people believe in him, he MUST be real - how could millions of people be wrong?” We have been trying to figure that one out for a very long time…
I told my friend that and that’s precisely what he said. I posted the argument on my blog, you can find it here. It’s truly a poor argument…
January 5th, 2006 at at 11:24 pm
er, I meant I told my friend about the story and we kind of got into a dumb argument about that. I’m pretty sure I was right.
January 6th, 2006 at at 1:28 am
The counsel calls God to the stand.
What would happen in that event? Would God just put His hand on His head and swear the oath to tell the truth? Would He just hold up an ink pen and swear? How exactly does that work?
I am extremely suprised that this is happening in Italy, and I am not holding my breath for a win on our side here. We do win a small battle on principal, though.
January 6th, 2006 at at 1:51 am
he heh.
I hate to be cynical, but I doubt this will have any effect on anyone anywhere. I seem to remember Fox
doing a show once of Science vs. Religion and they’d announce at prime time who won.
I didn’t have to see the outcome to know what it would be. I had faith in science.
January 6th, 2006 at at 7:56 am
The story made the ABC morning news this morning.
January 6th, 2006 at at 12:24 pm
So far, The Vatican, Jerry Falwell, and Pat Robertson, have remained silent on this issue. I would think at least one of them could get their god to take the stand.
January 6th, 2006 at at 4:23 pm
This is the funniest thing I’ve heard all day. Do you think Clarence Darrow would be interested in filing a Friend of the Court brief?
January 9th, 2006 at at 4:40 pm
Look at Ferraris and Lamborginis, God must exist.
January 9th, 2006 at at 4:46 pm
Surely no mortal man could design something so sweet unless he was inspired by God.
Im joking by the way, but it is Italy hahaha.
January 9th, 2006 at at 8:25 pm
I live in Italy and I think I can guarantee that both plaintiff and defendant will be dead by the time the court reaches a decision. Such is the speed of justice in Italy.
And to Joe, who says Italy is a Catholic country, I can say that it is in name only. Honesty is not particularly high on the list of priorities over here. Top of the list is “talking a lot”, followed by “not losing face” which is very closely followed by corruption and “being very economical with the truth”. After that (in any order) comes “treating women as ornaments”, clothes, cars, money, getting things for free (we call that stealing)… It’s still a fantastic place to live, strangely enough.
January 10th, 2006 at at 6:00 pm
yeah, my family lived in Italy for 4 years, and you’re pretty right on. I remember hearing about people waiting years and years to go to court over simple traffic accidents……………
It is a cool place to live though..
January 27th, 2006 at at 12:29 pm
So, here it is the 27th, and all we get is reports from lawyers going into court. Supposedly, Luigis’ lawyer says the days event isn’t about proving whether Christ existed. He says it is whether a crime has been committed. Too bad we don’t get accurate reporting. This could be as explosive as the trial to prove the existence of Santa Clause, from Miracle on 34th street!
July 26th, 2007 at at 1:52 am
east syracuse new york car insurance…
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