Judge Orders Priest, Prove Christ Exists

An atheist author looking to prove his point has taken a Catholic Priest to court to force him to demonstrate the historical proof that Jesus Christ was a real person. The judge initially threw out the suit, but was instructed by a higher court to hear it

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 Christ’s 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.

Signor Cascioli’s contention — echoed in numerous atheist books and internet sites — 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.

There is nothing new in Signor Cascioli's claims that hasn't been echoed in arguments from atheists in the past. Some of the older claims have been silenced by archaeological discoveries such as the discovery of the site of the city of Ninevah, the existence of the Hittites and coins with Pontius Pilot's inscription. All were once thought to be nonexistent and used as evidence of the inaccuracies of the biblical account.

Although there are no documents that bear his signature or mention him directly such as a high school yearbook or tax record, the copies of the eyewitness accounts have been dated close enough to be considered reliable. A fragment of the Gospel of John found in Egypt has been dated at about 100 AD, well within the time frame of being a reliable copy of an eyewitness. The letters of Paul, written soon after Jesus' death and resurrection, speak directly of eyewitnesses to His person.

It will be an interesting trial.

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