Judge tells priest to prove Christ existed
Richard Owen, Rome
January 04, 2006
AN Italian judge has ordered a priest to appear in court to prove that Jesus Christ existed.
The case against Father Enrico Righi has been brought in the town of Viterbo, north of Rome, by Luigi Cascioli, a retired agronomist who once studied for the priesthood but later became a militant atheist.
Mr Cascioli, author of a book called The Fable of Christ, began legal proceedings against Father Righi three years ago after the priest denounced Mr Cascioli inthe parish newsletter for questioning Christ's historical existence.
Viterbo judge Gaetano Mautone yesterday set a preliminary hearing for the end of this month and ordered Father Righi to appear.
The judge had earlier refused to take up the case, but was overruled last month by the Court of Appeal, which agreed that Mr Cascioli had a reasonable case for his accusation that Father Righi was "abusing popular credulity".
Mr Cascioli's contention is that there is no reliable evidence that Jesus lived and died in first-century Palestine apart from the Gospel accounts, which Christians took on faith.
Mr Cascioli's one-man campaign came to a head at a court hearing last April when he lodged his accusations of "abuse of popular credulity" and "impersonation", both offences under the Italian penal code.
He argued that all claims for the existence of Jesus from sources other than the Bible stem from authors who lived "after the time of the hypothetical Jesus" and were therefore not reliable witnesses.
Mr Cascioli maintains that early Christian writers confused Jesus with John of Gamala, an anti-Roman Jewish insurgent in first-century Palestine.
The Roman historians Tacitus and Suetonius mention a "Christus" or "Chrestus", but were writing "well after the life of the purported Jesus" and were relying on hearsay.
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 itand he does not," Father Righi said.
Mr Cascioli said he would withdraw his legal action if Father Righi came up with irrefutable proof of Christ's existence by the end of the month.
The Vatican has so far declined to comment.
The Times
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I would like to see evolution or an ancient earth go to court. Both would win hands down.
But proving God or Christ? I just don't think that this one has a hope in hell. I hope it goes to court. This will be a fun one to follow.
Think of the precedence that will come out of this one.
