Judge orders priest to prove Christ existed
An Italian judge has ordered Father Enrico Righi to appear in court later this month to prove that Jesus Christ existed.
Signor Cascioli, author of The Fable of Christ, began legal proceedings against Righi 3 years ago after Righi denounced Cascioli in the parish newsletter. Cascioli had questioned the historical evidence of Christ.
A Viterbo judge, Gaetano Mautone, set a preliminary trial date for later this month and ordered Righi to appear. Mautone had originally refused to take the case, but was later forced to by a ruling by the Court of Appeal. The appeals court felt that Cascioli had a reasonable case for the accusation, and added that Righi was “abusing popular credulity.”
Cascioli’s claim is that all historical evidence of Jesus is from authors after Christ’s time, therefore making them unreliable witnesses. He feels that early Christian writers may have confused Jesus with John of Gamala, an anti-Roman Jew in Palestine.
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Whether you believe in Jesus, Allah, God, G-d, Darwin, or trees; you believe in something. But to have a court force you to prove your beliefs is absurd.
I know this case is in Italy, and I have an American view of this; but you shouldn’t have to prove your beliefs to anyone but yourself.
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