Magic Statistics

Italian atheist Luigi Cascioli filed a criminal complaint against a former schoolmate, now a Roman Catholic priest, Rev Enrico Righi for allegedly breaking two Italian laws by asserting that Jesus Christ was born of a couple named Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem and lived in Nazareth. The trial got underway today.

Cascioli claims that Righi violated two Italian laws by making the assertion – so-called "abuse of popular belief", in which someone fraudulently deceives people, and impersonation, in which someone gains by attributing a false name to someone.

"The point (of today's hearing) is not to establish whether Jesus existed or not, but if there is a question of possible fraud," Cascioli's lawyer, Mauro Fonzo, told reporters before the hearing.

Cascioli says that for 2,000 years the Roman Catholic Church has been deceiving people by furthering the fable that Christ existed, and says the church has been gaining financially by "impersonating" as Christ someone by the name of John of Gamala, the son of Judas from Gamala.

Fr Righi's defence will apparently entail presenting historical evidence of Jesus' existence from both biblical and extra-biblical sources.

I’m not a lawyer, but I have to wonder whether Mr Casgioli has much of a case on either charge. Abuse of popular belief, according to the news article, involves fraudulent deceit. If Fr Righi sincerely holds the belief that Jesus was a real historical person, is that fraud?

As to the impersonation charge, wouldn’t the burden of proof be on Casgioli to show that this person John of Gemala, whoever that is, is the "real" Christ? (Mike the Geek tried to find out who John of Gamala was, and could find no evidence that he existed. Does that mean there are legal grounds for a complaint against Mr Cascioli for abuse of popular belief?)

No matter, for Cascioli admits that he expects to lose his case in this court. He’s just laying the groundwork for an appeal to

the European Court of Human Rights, where he intends to pursue the case against the church for religious racism.

An Italian atheist sues an Italian priest over the existence of a first-century Galilean Jew. Where's the racism?

Demographic changes continue to work through the Canadian economy. Another essential industry has an aging work force on its hands. Statistics Canada reports on the challenge facing the trucking sector.

[B]ecause of the sector's steady growth, an aging work force, and the declining popularity of the occupation, the industry may soon face a shortage of qualified truckers.
. . .
Truck drivers constitute a relatively older work force. In 2004, the average age for wage-earning truckers was 42, and for their self-employed counterparts, 45.

Also, 18% were aged 55 or older, compared with 13% for workers in general. For the first time in 2004, truckers aged 55 and over outnumbered those under 30, indicating that the occupation may be hit by a large number of retirements in the coming years.
. . .
Just as worrisome is the lack of young truck drivers. Only 5% were under 25 in 2004, compared with 15% in the labour force as a whole. Similarly, just over one-quarter of truckers were between 15 and 34, as opposed to 37% in the labour force as a whole.

From the standpoint of supply, this indicates that today's young workers are less inclined than the previous generation to enter the occupation.

"On the road again"? For now, but maybe not for too much longer.

My younger brother is a long-distance truck driver. He has no immediate plans to retire, but younger-than-me means he’s still one of those older drivers.