Personally, I think the shroud is a forgery. (I suspect that Nate Wilson’s theory is on the right track as far as explaining how such a forgery could have been accomplished using Medieval technologies.)

But even if the shroud is the real deal, so what? Catholics and Eastern Orthodox types may think this is significant – an icon or item for veneration – but Protestants aren’t supposed to go in for that, right? Right??? (Besides, the official stance of the Catholic Church is that it’s a fake, but that’s it’s OK to venerate it. Untangle that, if you dare.)

I mean, what the shroud tells us (assuming that it is Jesus’ burial cloth) is that it once contained a man that died by crucifixion. Is anyone disputing that? Even the most diehard atheists usually concede that Jesus actually lived and was crucified under Pontius Pilate. It certainly doesn’t prove the Resurrection, theories of Jesus’ body undergoing an effect like those in the movie Cocoon notwithstanding.