Theos-Talk Archives (June 2005 Message tt00168)

What does Anand reject as evidence?

1.	Formal legal declarations made under penalty of prosecution for 
providing false information (.e.g the reporting of Leadbeater’s birth; 
Leadbeater’s census return).
2.	Official government records (e.g. birth certificates).
3.	Formal signed written statements made to the Police after warning 
regarding perjury (e.g. the statements to the NSW Police).

All of these would be accepted as evidence by an historian, and by any court.

Anand also fails to understand that, both in legal proceedings and in 
historical research, the onus is upon a person making a disputed claim to 
provide evidence for the claim. For example, Leadbeater claimed to have been 
born in 1847, and Anand appears to support that claim. Where is the evidence? 
There is evidence to refute the claim, but none (other than the assertions of 
those making the claim) to support it. An assertion is not evidence: it is 
argument.

I claim Leadbeater was born in 1854: I provide as evidence an official 
government record (the birth certificate) AND the written testimony of 
Leadbeater himself (the census record) to support my claim. Applying either 
the criminal standard (beyond reasonable doubt) or the civil standard (the 
balance of probabilities or the preponderance of evidence) a court would 
accept the 1854 date until and unless more convincing evidence was produced to 
refute it. Claiming that there might have been an error is not evidence.

I challenge Anand to produce the evidence of the 1847 birth.

Dr Gregory Tillett