You may have seen this story in your local paper. The following is a little commentary that appeared in a local weekly here in Columbus on the story that was in the Columbus Dispatch:

----------------------
The Jesus Clone

Years ago, there was classic Saturday Night Live skit called "What if Eleanor Roosevelt Could Fly?" It involved experts soberly considering what an asset the first lady could have been to the Allied forces in World War II had she been able to hover over enemy territory.

In Friday's Dispatch, we came across a piece every bit as comically far-fetched, complete with sober experts.

The wire story from England said a filmmaker is working on a sci-fi movie about someone who clones Jesus using DNA material from the Shroud of Turin.

In flogging his movie, the filmmaker claims this is plausible -- never mind that carbon dating indicates the shroud comes from medieval, not biblical, times.

The best thing about the story was a quote from Rev. David Hilborn of Britain's Evangelical Alliance.

"God does not have DNA," said the rev. "If you cloned cells from the grave clothes, you might get someone who looked like Jesus, spoke like Jesus, but it would be a mere physical similarity."

Finally, sounding like a geek debating Dungeons & Dragons bylaws, Hilborn huffed, "He would not be the lord and master of the universe."