Clinging to Ossuary belief

[Marc]

One of the things that helped me move to atheism is seeing how people keep on believing in religious claims in the face of all evidence to the contrary. The continued belief in the Shroud of Turin for example. A believer on another board tried to argue that the reasons the proportions were off on the image was because he wasn't lying prone?!?! What? they propped Jesus up in a burial chair or something?

It should come as no surprise that some people are not ready to give up on the Ossuary just yet either.

Scholars say Jesus box may be genuine (http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/science/11/25/jesus.box.ap/index.html)
Panelists, speaking in Atlanta at the annual joint conference of the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature on Sunday, said authorities should examine the box more closely before passing judgment.

Gee, why am I not surprised that it is speakers at religious/bible societies that are holding out that it may be genuine?

[arcticpenguin]

"I don't know for sure whether this is a forged inscription, and I'm sort of cast as a defender of the inscription. I'm not," said moderator Hershel Shanks, editor of the Biblical Archeology Review, which published the initial findings. "What I do know is, Israeli authorities have badly managed the affair."
...
Oded Golan, the collector who came forward with the ossuary in October 2002 and has since been accused of being the forger, said it had been "undoubtedly cleaned" while in his family's possession but did not know how.
...
The antiquities authority, which has yet to release a full report on its findings, said the ossuary itself is ancient but oxygen isotope analysis suggested the words on it were inscribed in modern times.
...
Shanks said experts from the antiquities authority declined to speak at the forum.

OK, so they have a quote from a guy who was caught with a full set of forging tools and other altered antiquities, and they have a quote from a guy who has authored a book on the ossuary and therefore has a vested interest (an interest not reported in this article, by the way)

Meanwhile, is it possible that members of hte panel which expertly examined the ossuary are not talking because they have not yet given a full report? Or did they realize this conference was a setup?

[Ipecac]

And the stupid title of the article implies that there is some support for it being genuine, when in fact, the article merely says that they don't have "enough" proof that it's a fake. Sheesh.

[phildonnia]

Suppose it's real. There were three guys named Jesus, James and Joseph in ancient Palestine. Hell, I'd believe that if I read it on an internet forum.

[arcticpenguin]

bump