Shroud of Turin

I've had 3 people tell me that the recent History Channel documentary on the Shroud of Turin was absolutely amazing and reaffirming for their faith.

I finally got a chance to see it, and one of the huge differences between myself and the people who told me about the documentary (besides the whole atheism thing) is the fact that I've seen 2 or 3 other documentaries on the Shroud. This newest one started by saying, "The authenticity can't be proven." This is a pretty large understatement. The amount of controversy and scrutiny put into this piece of cloth makes the Kennedy assassination look like an open and shut case.

One of the problems is that this only pushes an attempt to prove an historical Jesus (assuming the lettering is legit). It does nothing to provide evidence for the divinity this character supposedly had.

The argument that Jesus may not have existed is rarely used by atheists and scientists in religious debates, and when it is used, it's often used to point out that devoting one's life to a potentially made up character is silly. The reason it's not a cornerstone of atheist debate logic is because we understand that the idea of something being "neither provable nor disprovable" is not evidence for either side. The creation of doubt to one side is not the dissolution of doubt from the other side. This is an example of a false dichotomy - something that the theism/atheism arena is littered with. If something can be neither proven nor disproven, then agnosticism must exist. That doesn't mean one must put equal stock in the options, however. I can be pretty certain that gravity isn't actually invisible ropes pulling me back toward the planet, even though our understand of gravity is "just a theory."

The idea of a false dichotomy comes into play when you pit two notions as opposite poles on a 2-tone spectrum. If I were to say that "Either there are invisible ropes keeping me and all things tied to the planet, or it's gravity," I would be committing the logical fallacy of a false dichotomy. Clearly, if gravity were to be one day disproven, the immediate conclusion, assuming that the dichotomy was legitimate, would be to say, "Well, I guess there really are invisible ropes." Obviously, this is not how science works. When one idea is backed by a study of the fundamental physical laws of the universe and nature, and the other simply feeds off the doubt of its self-appointed opposing viewpoint as well as the fact that it's "possible", then the focus would no sooner shift to that viewpoint than any of the other infinite "possible" viewpoints. (Geeee - I wonder what issue I'm secretly passionate about!)

Back to the original point, most atheists that I know are perfectly willing and able to accept the idea of an historical Jesus. Yet.. proof of the character is so passionately important to people that they will throw their livelihoods behind the cause. If one day there was definitive proof that Jesus of Nazareth walked this planet, it would do absolutely nothing to either atheism or theism. It would not be proof of his divinity nor would it be a blow against the assertion that he was just a man.

Does it actually reaffirm their faith? I'm sure it does. That's the funny thing about faith. The exact same stimulus (I.E. looking out over the Grand Canyon, watching a child come into the world, or even the nirvana that comes when you're relaxed) can affirm the faiths of many people, all with different religions. This, I feel malicious for saying, is also not proof of anything. Delusions by definition spring from a misconception compounded by stigmas and experiences all misinterpreted and filtered through a lens of deceit. When you believe in something, you tend to read everything in the context of your belief. When an atheist sees a huge waterfall or a childbirth, they don't feel nothing, they feel extreme pleasure or nirvana. The very same endorphins and adrenaline pumps through their veins. They simply don't attribute these feelings to a deity.

The Shroud of Turin might be real, and it might not be, but until science comes up with an answer, I'm going to wait patiently and see. I promise I won't have any "life changing experiences" either way.