Religious comedy memes etc.

[Recusant]

I don't think there's a thread devoted to that artifact. Maybe there should be, considering it gets brandished as "evidence" by itinerant preachers as well as other Christians who visit this site. A recent study of the image shows that it was possibly the product of contact with a bas-relief sculpture and very unlikely the result of contact with a human body.

"Shroud of Turin image matches low-relief statue—not human body, 3D modeling study finds" | Phys.org

The Shroud of Turin is a famous artifact with obscure origins. How and when it was made has long been the subject of debate among many scientists, historians and religious leaders, alike. The two most prominent theories are that it was either created as a work of art during the medieval period or that it was a piece of linen that was actually wrapped around the body of Jesus Christ after his death over 2000 years ago.

Radiocarbon dating done in a 1989 study on the Shroud of Turin dated it around 1260 to 1390 AD, consistent with the medieval theory. Later, in 2005, Raymond Rogers argued that the tested sample from the radiocarbon dating came from an area that had been repaired, and was thus newer than the original cloth. And more recently, in 2022, a single thread from the shroud material was tested with a new—and somewhat controversial—method based on Wide Angle X-ray Scattering (WAXS), which claimed that the shroud dated back to the first century AD. If those results are reliable, this dates the cloth much closer to the time of Jesus.

Yet another study examined the blood patterns on the shroud and deemed them inconsistent with what would be expected with a deceased man lying flat. In fact, the authors stated that these blood patterns were "totally unrealistic." This led to the idea that the blood might have been added to the shroud in a more artistic manner after its creation.

Recently, a study using 3D modeling with MakeHuman, Blender and CloudCompare has added more evidence to the debate. The study, published in Archaeometry, compares digital imprints of a three dimensional human figure and a low-relief artistic rendering—similar to a flattened statue—of a human onto a flat sheet.

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The paper is behind a paywall.

Abstract:

This study investigates the origin of the image imprinted on the Shroud of Turin, a linen artifact displaying the frontal and dorsal figures of an adult man with marks of physical violence, using 3D digital simulations. Through free and open-source software, parametric modeling of a human body, fabric dynamics simulation, and contact area mapping were performed.

Two scenarios were compared: the projection of a three-dimensional human model and that of a low-relief model. The results demonstrate that the contact pattern generated by the low-relief model is more compatible with the Shroud's image, showing less anatomical distortion and greater fidelity to the observed contours, while the projection of a 3D body results in a significantly distorted image. The accessible and replicable methodology suggests that the Shroud's image is more consistent with an artistic low-relief representation than with the direct imprint of a real human body, supporting hypotheses of its origin as a medieval work of art.

[Recusant]

Back to the topic, an old one ...

A Jewish dad hears his children singing a song about the Christian trinity. He realizes they must have learned it in school. He yells at them, "Stop that! There is only one God, and we don't believe in him."