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

What We Cannot Ignore

Can we simply ignore the fact that the fabric of the shroud is very likely an ancient cloth like those found at Masada? Can we simply ignore the pollen and dirt that forensically links the shroud to the environs of Jerusalem, Edessa and Constantinople? Can we simply ignore the Sudarium? Is the history that offers possibilities that the shroud is authentic simply to be ignored? 

We need not think that there is something miraculous or even religious about the cloth to accept that it is authentic. Yet we must realize that so long as the images remain unexplained, the opportunity exists, for all whose worldview accommodates miracles to imagine miraculous explanations. We might think that the images are somehow a byproduct of the miracle of resurrection. For those whose worldview does not include the likelihood of miracles, it is at least fair to say that the shroud is, seems to be, or could be authentic and the images are simply an unexplained phenomenon, perhaps the result of some unrealized naturalistic process.

“Only a great amount of thought enables us to know what it is that we really may believe,” says Russell. Part of that process must be to examine and fully understand the contradictions. Part of that process should also be to understand and test the reliability of our own individual worldview.