Shroud of Turin May Be Authentic – Scientists Unable to Prove Hoax

The Seattle Post Intelligencer reports that scientists have been unable to reproduce the effects that could have led to the creation of the Shroud of Turin. Does this mean the Turin Shroud is a bona fide religious relic?

Authenticity not disproven

The going theory suggested that the Shroud of Turin, which the faithful have accepted as the burial cloth of Jesus Christ, may have been a clever forgery originating in the medieval era. At last, the ENEA Frascati Center has released the results of a five-year study of the shroud. The findings are not as conclusive as the faithful might have hoped for, but they are also not as vague as the skeptics had anticipated.

"The body image of the Turin Shroud has not yet been explained by traditional science and the attempts to obtain a similar image by chemical methods failed till now," the researchers concluded after five years of testing. It is generally agreed upon that the image of the shroud would have had to be the result of an intense light exposure, the likes of which medieval forgers could not have had -- and modern era scientists have not yet discovered.

Questionable Relics have made Trust more difficult

Remember the supposed ossuary of James, the brother of Jesus? Time reported back in 2008 that the box with the inscription "Yaakov bar Yosef akhui di Yeshua" was an elaborate fake put together by an unscrupulous antiquities dealer. The dealer has denied complicity in the scheme to defraud the faithful.

Christianity is not the only faith beset by pranksters. Jewish faithful were incensed when the Jehoash Inscription -- ascribed to Jehoash, the son of Judah's King Ahaziah as alluded to in the 12th chapter of the second book of Kings -- was ousted as a fake by the Haaretz Newspaper in Israel.

A 2007 report by Asia One highlighted that Buddhism, too, is beset with faked relics. Case in point was a purported tooth of the Buddha that generated approximately $45 million in donations by the faithful. Yet closer examination of the tooth has called into question its source, age and classification as being of human origin in the first place.

Shroud of Turin not yet disproven - but also not proven

The marked difference between the Turin Shroud and other religious relics, which have since been debunked as fakes, is the fact that science has not managed to prove it a fake. Even as researchers continue to find an energy source, available during medieval times, which could have led to the creation of the now-famous double image, skeptics and faithful alike continue to speculate on the eventual outcome.

Sources:

Seattle Post Intelligencer, "Researchers say Shroud of Turin is authentic"

ENEA Frascati Center, "Colorazione Simil-Sindonica Di Tessuti Di Lino Tramite Radiazione Nel Lontano Ultravioletto"

Time, "Fraudulent Relics and the Brother of Jesus"

Haaretz, "Report: Jehoash tablet is a fake"

Asia One, "Is Buddha tooth here the real McCoy?"