Pen-Elayne on the Web

Jesus or Not?

Here's an interesting article pointed to by Michael at Bookslut. Seems an Italian atheist is suing a priest for "abusing popular credulity," contending there's no reliable evidence for the historical existence of Jesus of Nazareth, and therefore no basis for Christianity. Says the article, "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 “substitution of persons”." In response, Father Righi says “If Cascioli does not see the sun in the sky at midday, he cannot sue me because I see it and he does not,” an absurd false-equivalence sentence at which I'd love to see PZ Myers have a go.