More evidence that Kimball and Steyn are correct about the direction of the West. An Italian judge has ordered a priest to appear in court this month 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.
Signor Cascioli, author of a book called The Fable of Christ, began legal proceedings against Father Righi three years ago after the priest denounced Signor Cascioli in the parish newsletter for questioning Christâs historical existence.
Yesterday Gaetano Mautone, a judge in Viterbo, 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 Signor Cascioli had a reasonable case for his accusation that Father Righi was âabusing popular credulityâ. Signor Cascioliâs contention â echoed in numerous atheist books and internet sites â is that there was no reliable evidence that Jesus lived and died in 1st-century Palestine apart from the Gospel accounts, which Christians took on faith. There is therefore no basis for Christianity, he claims. Signor Cascioliâs one-man campaign came to a head at a court hearing last April when he lodged his accusations of âabuse of popular credulityâ and âimpersonationâ, both offences under the Italian penal code.
If that is what the law says, then the law once again proves itself to be an ass.
He argued that all claims for the existence of Jesus from sources other than the Bible stem from authors who lived âafter the time of the hypothetical Jesusâ and were therefore not reliable witnesses. Signor Cascioli maintains that early Christian writers confused Jesus with John of Gamala, an anti-Roman Jewish insurgent in 1st-century Palestine. Church authorities were therefore guilty of âsubstitution of personsâ. The Roman historians Tacitus and Suetonius mention a âChristusâ or âChrestusâ, but were writing âwell after the life of the purported Jesusâ and were relying on hearsay. Father Righi said there was overwhelming testimony to Christâs existence in religious and secular texts. Millions had in any case believed in Christ as both man and Son of God for 2,000 years. âIf Cascioli does not see the sun in the sky at midday, he cannot sue me because I see it and he does not,â Father Righi said. Signor Cascioli said that the Gospels themselves were full of inconsistencies and did not agree on the names of the 12 apostles. He said that he would withdraw his legal action if Father Righi came up with irrefutable proof of Christâs existence by the end of the month.
The Vatican has so far declined to comment.