Court set to prove Jesus exists

[Lakie]

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...5E1702,00.html

Court set to prove Jesus exists
From correspondents in Rome
January 22, 2006

LAWYERS for a small-town Italian parish priest have been ordered to appear in court next week after the Roman Catholic cleric was accused of unlawfully asserting what many people take for granted: that Jesus Christ existed.

The Reverend Enrico Righi was named in a 2002 complaint filed by Luigi Cascioli after Rev Righi wrote in a parish bulletin that Jesus did indeed exist, and that he was born of a couple named Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem and lived in Nazareth.

Mr Cascioli, a lifelong atheist, claims that Rev Righi violated two Italian laws by making the assertion: so-called "abuse of popular belief" in which someone fraudulently deceives people; and "impersonation" in which someone gains by attributing a false name to someone.

Mr Cascioli says that for 2000 years the Roman Catholic Church has been deceiving people by furthering the fable that Christ existed, and says the church has been gaining financially by "impersonating" as Christ someone by the name of John of Gamala, the son of Judas from Gamala.

He also asserts that the Gospels - the most frequently cited testimony of Jesus' existence - are inconsistent, full of errors and biased, and that other written evidence from the time is scant and doesn't hold up to scholarly analysis.

Prosecutors, who in Italy are obliged to investigate such complaints, initially tried to have the case dismissed, saying no crime could be verified.

But Mr Cascioli challenged them, and Judge Gaetano Mautone set a hearing for next Friday in Viterbo, north of Rome, to discuss preliminary motions in Mr Cascioli's bid to have the court appoint technical experts to review the historical data and determine if Jesus really did exist.

Mr Cascioli, 72, said in a recent interview that he decided to pursue the case against Rev Righi, a priest in the village of Bagnoregio, near Viterbo, because the cleric had written in the parish bulletin that Jesus existed.

Asked why he went after Rev Righi - a schoolmate when he and Mr Cascioli were boys - and not any number of bishops, cardinals or even the pope who have asserted the very same thing, Mr Cascioli said it didn't really matter who he named in his complaint.

"When one demonstrates that Christ didn't exist, attacking a simple priest is the same thing as attacking a bishop or cardinal," Mr Cascioli said.
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I expected this to happen somewhere eventually, although i wouldnt have picked italy as the place, will be an interesting case. Go Mr. Cascoli!

Reminds me - if you ever get the chance watch the movie "the Man who sued god" its a comedy bloody funny.

Also, please dont turn this into a flame war, keep it sensible...

[BADDOG]

I've heard about this story recently on BBC radio 4 and it will be very interesting to see how this turns out from a legal point of view. It's certainly a very unusal case I suspect as it calls into question one of the basic beliefs of Christianity.

As matter of interest I wonder how other religious leaders or groups would react to such a court case against their most cherished religious beliefs?

As for the man who sued god, is that the movie will Billy Connoly in it Mike?

Warm regards & good post bro

Steve/Baddog

[Lakie]

Yep thats the one is one of my favourites just because of its interesting concept, although now that seems to be reality

[Lucky]

this is gonna be interesting ill watch for it on the news