Judge dismisses “prove Jesus” lawsuit

(BP) — An Italian judge who at one point entertained the idea of having court-appointed technical experts review historical data in order to prove whether Jesus really existed has now thrown out the case entirely.

Luigi Cascioli, a lifelong atheist, filed a lawsuit in 2002 alleging that Enrico Righi, a minister, violated two Italian laws – “abuse of popular belief,” in which someone intentionally deceives people, and “impersonation,” in which someone makes gains by attributing a false name to someone, when he claimed in a church bulletin that Jesus was born of a couple named Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem and lived in Nazareth.

But Judge Gaetano Mautone released a ruling Feb. 9 saying Cascioli had no case and should be investigated for possible slander.

“This is not surprising but it doesn’t mean it all ends here,” Cascioli said in response to the ruling, adding that he may take the case to the European Court of Human Rights.