imageThis posting with many comments was just recycled on an Italian Tourism website. (I don’t like the practice of plagiarizing and not giving any links or credits so I’m not linking to the tourism site but to the original posting, Are Atheists biased or just uninformed? that appeared in Yahoo Answers. Here is how it starts:

I find it interesting how a number of atheists will demand the application of "science" and "intellectual thought"…and then, when it comes to a topic they want to brush aside, they simply ignore the evidence and make inane comments that make them sound like the very people they ridicule.

WRONG! Read the article and read the comments. Most of the people from BOTH SIDES are largely uninformed and biased.

YES. The Shroud of Turin has been debunked many times. So many of the commenters are right. BUT, none of the “debunking,” with time, has stood up to scientific scrutiny. That is not uncommon in the world of science. In the case of the shroud this includes the carbon dating, the claim of finding inorganic paint particles and the most ridiculous recent claims that it has been reproduced. Consult and limit yourself to ethical peer-reviewed scientific journals. Always search the archives for newer data. Be scientific in your approach.

NO. That doesn’t mean that the Shroud of Turin is the burial cloth of Jesus. It may be. I don’t think it is possible to prove this, however. I think, if one does not limit oneself to science alone and embraces the study of history, it is possible to infer that it is real. INFERENCE is not PROOF.

NO. No one has reproduced the image of the shroud. Every year the Associated Press (AP) announces a new method by someone who claims to have reproduced the shroud image. ASK YOURSELF why there is a new method each year. Is the latest the last? Instead of getting your scientific facts from the AP, read peer-reviewed journals like Nature and JIST, Journal of Imaging Technology.

DON’T SAY ATHEIST WHEN YOU MEAN SKEPTIC. I know many well informed, believing Christians who don’t think the shroud is real. On the other hand, I know an Atheist (there is more than one and there are some non-Christians as well) who believes it is really the burial cloth of Jesus of Nazareth but that nothing religious can be proven by that belief. The distinction is important.