Originally Posted by
sleepy_lioness
Not really, no. Since I also constitute a side in this debate (well, I do now), can I claim that the Shroud of Turin was made by my Gran on her old Singer sewing maching last week, and have that ruled relevant by definition?
This.
We claim it, therefore it matters is the cry of the intellectually bankrupt. It reminds me of so much woo out there -- the reiki practicioners who say that someone "got better" when someone else waved her hands around or the psychics who dredge incompetent studies for the tiniest straw in order to shout that what they claim is proven.
Let me put it another way, and I'm serious about this, Jabba: Let's suppose that it is irrefutably proven that no 14th century artist could have produced the image on the shroud. How do you know it wasn't aliens who used superior technology to create the image in that same century? After all, that would be more consistent with the evidence than your claim; at least it fits the C14 dating.