Whew, flowerplough.....your hatred of the Catholic Church doth issue forth and colour thy opinions, eh?
Those “old guys” you keep denigrating.....Look, one of those “old guys” who put that expedition together in 1978 happens to be my partner and one of my best friends. He turns 70 this Saturday and I’ll put his brain pan and faculties up against ANYONE’s. Obviously the Feds agree.....they keep him awfully busy even at his “advanced age” (happens to be a nuclear physicist). What he does for ‘em is none of your business (nor mine, for that matter).
As Swordmaker aptly pointed out, you are attacking blindly without the slightest knowledge of WHO you are attacking. I know a fair number of these “old guys”....and the “younger ones”, too. Did you realize that the group that went to Turin in 1978 were actually quite young? Look at pictures from that era (I have some). Shoot, some would have been called “hippies” in that day. Seriously.
I may add here that most of them were either aethists or agnostics (at least one Jewish); NOT pre-disposed to saying “Hallelujah, and pass the wine....it’s JEEEEEEESUS !!!!!”
Far from it.
They were damned smart people who largely came from the nuke weapons community (JPL, Los Alamos, etc.). The best and brightest. I consider myself to be a pretty intelligent person, but some of them make me feel like an idiot in comparison.
Isabel Piczek may be 70ish....but she got her PhD in particle physics at age 13 1/2. Top that. She’s one of the leading theoretical particle physicists in the world today. That is a fact.
I could go on, but I have tremendous respect for the Tom D’Muhala’s and John Jackson’s and Isabel Piczek’s and Barrie Schwortz’s and Peter Soons’ and Al Whanger’s of the world. There are many, many others (Phil Dayvault....former special agent for the FBI, Sue Benford, God rest her soul...lovely young woman...), but they all share certain traits.
Yes, they’re smart....many of them brilliant. They believe in the scientific method and brook no nonsense. Do the hard work and let the results speak for themselves.
So do me a favor and stop insulting them, their work. Many of them are my friends, damn it.
Thanks for posting here and clearing up some of the ignorance - especially my own. I read a book roughly 25 years or so ago about the original investigation, but haven’t paid much attention lately to the latest. Please pass on my regards to them.
revered....not worshiped. And old Joe Stalin, he was first among equals, too. Sorry if I’m tromping on toes, insulting your friends, not giving the old Mother Church its due diligence, etc. I was just born skeptical, hell, maybe ‘twas Mary herself what made me that way. You and all your legit experts can hope and can crank out the probabilities and plausabilities, and eat, sleep, and dream best-case Shroud scenarios, but nothing changes. Just ‘cause it’s interesting, unusual, or even unique don’t mean it’s Jesus. Your collective dedication to the valueless relics and tokens is almost sad sometimes. An hour is coming, when the true will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks. Not sure I’m one of them, but the word truth does have a nice ring to it, in my ear.