Religion on Trial

In a concise and devastating style, Craig Parton, an experienced trial lawyer versed in the laws of legal evidence, argues that religions uniformly fail the simplest tests of admissibility for their respective claims. Few religions even bother to make testable assertions, relying instead at best on subjective and existential appeals. The stunningly few historical, and thus verifiable, claims of a precious few religions can be swiftly sorted out, and the result is an astounding vindication of the central nonhearsay claims of the first-century eyewitnesses to the life and work of Jesus Christ. This work challenges the prevailing viewpoint that all religions are making the same, or even similar, allegations. More troubling than this prevailing view is that the religions of the world remain diametrically opposed on the issues of the nature of humanity, the reality of evil, the nature of history, and the way of salvation. Sorting out the clashing claims of religions is the task of this book, and a trial lawyer well schooled in the laws of admissible evidence brings insight and clarity to matters normally thought to be solely in the domain of philosophers and theologians. ""Religion on Trial is a thoughtful analysis of religious truth claims and the need to base faith and beliefs on evidence."" --Oliver Wilder-Smith Associate Professor of Medicine at Radboud University, The Netherlands ""Here is one author capable of combining his expertise in three disciplines--jurisprudence, theology, and literature--to build a brilliant and much needed case, a superb blend of courtroom, classroom and prose!"" --Uwe Siemon-Netto International Journalist, Gurat, France Craig Parton is a lawyer who has been involved in the trial of some of the largest natural-resource cases in California. He is a partner with the law firm of Price, Postel and Parma LLP of Santa Barbara, California, and is the United States director of the International Academy of Apologetics, which conducts its annual July sessions in Strasbourg, France (www.apologeticsacademy.eu). Parton teaches and debates on the issues surrounding the facticity of the first-century events recorded in the primary source documents (i.e., the New Testament) and has traveled to over one hundred university campuses to lecture and debate on the topic of religious truth claims. He is the author of two previous works relating to the examination and defense of the Christian assertions, and is a regular contributor to the Global Journal of Classical Theology and Logia: A Journal of Lutheran Theology, as well as a contributing scholar to Modern Reformation magazine.