Judge to decide if priest should be at bar for declaring Jesus existed
Judge to decide if priest should be at bar for declaring Jesus existed:
An Italian judge heard arguments from lawyers on Friday on whether a small-town parish priest should stand trial for asserting that Jesus Christ existed. The priest's accuser, an atheist, says the Roman Catholic Church has been deceiving people for 2,000 years with a fable that Christ existed and he accused the priest of violating two laws by furthering the assertion. Lawyers for the prelate, the Rev. Enrico Righi, and his accuser, Luigi Cascioli, made their arguments before Judge Gaetano Mautone in a brief, closed-door hearing in Viterbo, north of Rome. They said they expected Mautone to decide quickly whether to dismiss the case or order Righi to stand trial