Why an Atheist Thinks the Shroud of Turin is the Real Deal

Inappropriate Question

It might be tempting to say that the subject is about a religious relic and thus discussion is inappropriate for the science classroom of a secular institution. But that is the wrong answer. This is a religious relic, but it is also an archeological artifact, one that has been rigorously studied scientifically. This happened in 1978 when several scientists examined it in Turin. This happened when the radiocarbon tests were conducted in 1988. This happened, also, when in 2004, a U.S. government publication revisited the tests.  And in 2005, another secular, peer-reviewed scientific journal, Thermochimica Acta, published a paper that severely challenged the results of the 1988 radiocarbon dating. It didn’t stop there. Los Alamos National Laboratory chemist, Robert Villarreal recently reported that a nine member team of scientists chemically characterized threads from the carbon dating region of the cloth with some of the most advanced equipment available in that lab. And in August of 2008, the science journal, Chemistry Today, published a twelve page article on the shroud’s carbon dating. It is the wrong answer simply because the matter of the radiocarbon dating has nothing to do with religion.

It is the wrong answer because it denies the student a chance to take a critical look at the methods, procedures and data; from there to learn from the experience. Here is a chance to understand what can go wrong in radiocarbon dating and other scientific endeavors. Here is a chance to see how scientific conclusions are continuously being challenged by new information. And here is a stimulating case study for students to learn about radiocarbon dating and indeed more about our world and universe.