Jesus To Be Challenged In Italian Court
The effort by the ACLU and other like-minded groups to have the Pledge of Allegiance permanently removed from public school to-do lists carries with it two distinct benefits. The first is to have the American flags that now adorn most classrooms relegated to the dust heap of history.
The American flag, besides representing President Bush and his "oppressive regime," stands for a concept that is diametrically opposed to their worldview: nationalism. The idea here is that borders are oppressive because they foster a climate of political tyranny, encouraging authoritarian regimes. The notion of a world without borders ignores the existence of evil, believing rather, that evil is the result of human contructs such as borders. Eliminate these constructs and you eliminate evil. Hence the American flag is perhaps the world’s most powerful symbol of the great evil of nationalism.
The second benefit is to prevent the word "God" from ever being uttered in another classroom - at least a public school classroom - again. And it’s not just any old God there after - Allah and Buddha are OK, even welcome. But the God of the Bible, and Jesus in particular, are definitely not welcome.
So you can be sure that the ACLU, the People for the American Way, etc., etc., are watching a law suit currently in progress in Italy with more than a little interest. Seventy-something Luigi Cascioli is an avowed Athiest and is suing Enrico Righi, a seventy-something Catholic Priest. Interestingly enough, the two gentlemen are both from the same town and attended seminary together.
In the suit, Cascioli claims that the Catholic Church, here represented by Righi, has run afoul of Italian law by teaching that Jesus actually existed. Without getting into the ins and outs of the particular laws that were alledgedly violated, Cascioli intends to "prove" that Jesus Christ was a first century fable based on another real, but obscure person.
Cascioli himself admits that he has little chance of success in the overwhelmingly Roman Catholic environment of Italy, saying "It would take a miracle to win." But now the gauntlet has been thrown down - the way has been illuminated. It’s only a matter of time before the idea catches on among American Atheists and the ACLU gives up their silly attacks on the American flag and goes for the jugular.
July 2nd, 2006 at 4:29 pm
Cascioli claims that Jesus was copied from a man named John of Gamala. According to Wikipedia, no such person existed, and is in fact a fictitious character from a book called “For The Temple.” It was written by GA Henty in 1888. He wrote books for young boys, like those of Twain and Stevenson, based in historic times but with fictional people. Cascioli recently won an appeal from the European Court of Human Rights, and they have agreed to hear his appeal. The problem is that under the rules of evidence, Cascioli doesn’t have to prove anything. How do you prove that ANYONE lived 2000 years ago? One atheist website I went to even admitted that John of Gamala is a myth, but went on to say that it doesn’t matter, “As long as we win!” Since Europe for the most part has become atheist, don’t be surprised if Cascioli wins, even though his book (some of which I have read) is a pile of nonsense.