Joe Marino wrote: “Speaking of fallacies, I wonder if anyone has put together a list of fallacious Shroud arguments against authenticity. A few immediately come to mind (with a little sarcasm thrown in here and there):
There’s no way a cloth could have lasted that long. Therefore it must be a fake. - The Bible says that more than 1 cloth was used. The Shroud is only 1 cloth. Therefore it’s a hoax.
- All relics are fakes. The Shroud is a relic. Therefore the Shroud is fake.
- Leonardo was talented enough to produce the Shroud. Therefore he did it. (Never mind that the Shroud was around for about 100 years before he was born.
- Enough was known about photography in the 14th century that the Shroud could have been produced by a photographic process. Therefore it was.
- A bishop in the 14th century said he knew the artist that did it AND paint particles have been found on the Shroud. Therefore, it’s a painting.
- I’ve read 1 or 2 newspaper articles that say it’s a fake and I agree. Even though I haven’t done any research, my opinion trumps those that say a few measly hundreds of thousands of hours of the best scientific research of the 20th and 21st century has failed to come up with a viable explanation.
- The C-14 test gave results of AD 1260-1390. Even though only 1 questionable sample was taken, the putting of the samples into the tubes for the lab was the only part of the procedure not videotaped, and the reports of the sizes and weights of the samples kept changing, there’s no reason to doubt the validity of a test that’s often discarded because results are often affected by unknown factors.
”I would enjoy seeing others add to this list,” adds Joe.
- Well, Joe, my favorites include:
Jesus has short hair, according to the Bible. The man pictured on the shroud has shoulder length hair, so the shroud is a fake. - The man of the shroud looks Norwegian. Jesus was Jewish. Therefore the shroud is a fake.
- Jesus was only five feet tall. We know this because everyone was only five feet tall in 33 AD. Since the man on the shroud is six feet tall, the shroud is a fake.
- Everyone knows that Jesus was wrapped in linen strips just like a mummy. So the shroud can’t be real.
A Review: The Fallacy of God: A Religious Conspiracy « Shroud of Turin Blog