Luigi Cascioli, the man who sued an Italian Catholic priest charging that the priest had violated Italy’s laws against deceit and impersonation by perpetuating “the myth” of the existence of Jesus Christ, is reporting on his website that the European Court of Human Rights has accepted his appeal of the case. In February, an Italian judge dismissed the complaint of the man who refers to himself as “the most courageous atheist of all times [sic],” and suggested that Cascioli be investigated by prosecutors for possibly slandering the priest.
I will be the first to admit that putting this case—or any case for that matter—before the European Court of Human Rights is asking for trouble because one never knows what they are going to do. It is, after all, possible that the judges on that court could see fit to buy into Cascioli’s ranting and self-promotion simply because the judges on that court seem to believe they have jurisdiction over just about anything. However, anyone, even someone so badly wrong as Luigi Cascioli, is entitled to an appeal, and it is quite likely that the suit will go the way of the dodo sometime in the not-so-distant future.
August 8, 2006 at 12:20 pm
I do not understand on what possible grounds this court could grant an appeal. For one thing, Cascioli claims that Jesus was formed from the life of someone named John of Gamala. However, no such person existed. He is not mentioned by any historian or rabbi, and the only reference to him is from a 19th century boys’ adventure book titled “For The Temple,” written by GA Henty in 1888. How did the founders of Christianity use him for a model for a fake Jesus when he never existed? His entire case is bogus, but we are dealing with a European Court that has issued some idiotic decisions in the past – so who knows? I just look at it as just one more example of more reprobate thinking in this world today. Have ninety percent of the people lost their minds?
February 16, 2007 at 3:42 am
Bush goes ballistic about other countries being evil and dangerous, because they have weapons of mass destruction. But, he insists on building up even a more deadly supply of nuclear arms right here in the US. What do you think? What is he doing to us, and what is he doing to the world?
What happened to us, people? When did we become such lemmings?
We have lost friends and influenced no one. No wonder most of the world thinks we suck. Thanks to what george bush has done to our country during the past three years, we do!