Italian court to decide whether Jesus existed
ROME (AFP) - An Italian court will this week ponder the existence of Christ after an atheist accused a priest of misleading the public by presenting Jesus as an historical character.
The atheist, 72-year-old Luigi Cascioli, first filed a complaint against 75-year-old Father Enrico Righi, a parish priest in Bagnoregno, central Italy, in September 2002.
Righi had asserted the historical existence of Christ in a parish newsletter
"This complaint does not wish to contest the freedom of Christians to profess their faith...but wishes to denounce the abuse that the Catholic Church commits by profiting from its prestige to present historical facts as if they are real when they are only inventions," the atheist says on his website.
The trial, beginning Friday morning, will consider article 661 of the Italian penal code which, under the term "abuse of popular gullibility", sanctions people who mislead others.
Cascioli has said he will withdraw his complaint if he receives proof of the historical existence of Christ.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060124...eligionoffbeat