Italian court to decide if Jesus existed
January 24th, 2006An Italian man has filed a lawsuit against a priest, claiming he broke two Italian laws when he asserted that Jesus actually existed.
Now an Italian court will weigh the merits of the case.
The Rev. Enrico Righi was named in a 2002 complaint filed by Luigi Cascioli after 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.
Cascioli, a lifelong atheist, claims that 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.
Cascioli says that for 2,000 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.
Thanks to Amanda for first alerting me to this story.
As outrageous as this news sounds, the fact is, everyone must have their own personal trial to determine if Jesus is real. Matthew 16:13b, “Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man am?” We must give great care to bring back the right verdict!
Maybe the church should countersue and force the atheist to prove Jesus DID NOT exist.
Actually, his full response in the article reveals his real purpose is to make a political statement. If the trial goes to the European court, it will be interesting to see just how secular their society has become.
And even if the European court decides Jesus did not exist, that doesn’t make it true. The Bible is truth, He does exist, and that is that!