A Kenyan lawyer wants to go to court to redress an injustice done 2,000 years ago to a Jewish preacher and healer called Jesus of Nazareth.
Dola Indidis, who's Roman Catholic, is petitioning the International Court of Justice in The Hague to overturn and nullify the conviction of Jesus by Pontius Pilate, then the Roman governor of Judea.
As told in the New Testament, that conviction led to Jesus' crucifixion and, in time, to the founding of Christianity -- now the world's largest religion.
According to a report by Religion News Service, Indidis wants to keep the faith that flowed from Jesus' execution. But he accuses the long-dead Pilate of "judicial misconduct, abuse of office, bias and prejudice. . . .The selective and malicious prosecution (of Jesus) violated his human rights."
Indidis first brought the case before Kenya's highest court in Nairobi in 2007. That court, RNS reported, refused to hear it, saying it lacked jurisdiction.
He faces equally long odds as he pursues a hearing before the International Court of Justice, also known as the World Court. The court is best known for ruling on territorial disputes between countries.
But the Roman Empire, which sent Pilate to rule over what is now a part of Israel, no longer exists.
RNS called Indidis' quest "quixotic," but he is forging ahead.
He has pointed to the example of Joan of Arc, the 15th century French saint who was burned at the stake after leading her country's soldiers to victories against the English. Her conviction was later overturned by a Vatican court, and she was canonized in 1920.
-- Tim Funk
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Kenyan lawyer wants Jesus' conviction overturned
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4 comments:
Jesus was innocent of all charges but this was part of God's plan for man's redemption. One God sent one son to die one time for one race...the human race.
How absurd. As I understood it, the basic Christian message is there is redemption either as a direct result of suffering or in spite of suffering. In fact, the whole Gospel goes to lengths to show that Jesus did not resist suffering in order to overcome it. Besides, no one who witnessed the trial ever wrote down anything about it, so how do we know what really happened? This guy sounds like a show boater.
Anon @ 8:50am - Where in this article is there any mention of taxpayer dollars being used??
Let's prove first that a single person called Jesus actually existed for real, instead of multiple sooth sayers and other self-nominated prophets of the times, as was common in this part of the world 2,000 years ago.
Once we've established this, then we can figure out why he was given capital punishment and whether or not an appeal is worthy. Crucifixion was used only for the highest crimes (sedition, treason, rebellion) so he must have really been a naughty boy.
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