Italian Priest on Trial for Asserting Jesus' Existence

The trial has begun. Two former seminarians, one a Catholic Priest, the other who left seminary to become an Atheist are in court. The Atheist is suing the Priest claiming fraud, that the teaching that Jesus was a real person is a deliberate falsehood.

Opening arguments began Friday in the case of an Italian priest who was accused by an atheist of breaking two Italian laws by stating that Jesus Christ existed.

Lawyers for the prelate, Rev. Enrico Righi, and his accuser, Luigi Cascioli, headed into the closed-door hearing in the courtroom in Viterbo, north of Rome, to learn whether the judge would dismiss the case or order Righi to stand trial.

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.

He has said he has little expectation that the case will succeed in overwhelmingly Roman Catholic Italy, but says he is merely going through the necessary legal steps so he can ultimately take the case to the European Court of Human Rights, where he intends to pursue the case against the church for "religious racism."

The courts seem to be the last refuge of those who what to effect society but can't get anyone to listen to them. I have no clue what "religious racism." is as it pertains to whether or not Jesus actually lived. I'm sure it makes sense to Mr. Cascioli.