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

The French Bishop of Troyes

Perhaps you read about a copy of a letter from a fourteenth century French bishop to the pope telling him that a cunning artist had confessed to painting the images. A copy of the letter may be found at the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. Is that not proof that the shroud is a fake relic? Well, no, as we’ll see.

Much of what has been said, written or presented on television about the shroud is wrong, astonishingly wrong, and peppered with extraordinary conspiracy theories. The more it is hyped—“shocking truths now revealed”—the more it seems to be anything but truth, at least with scientific and historical validity. It is a matter of finding harmonious truth within the cacophony of  myth.