Who is God’s Lawyer?

September 17, 2007 By Guest Contributor 28 Comments

Nebraska State Senator Ernie Chambers, a Democrat, is suing God.

Just to prove a point, though.

ChambersvsGod

First some background: Chambers is the longest-serving state senator in Nebraska’s history, having first been elected in 1970. He’s also the only African-American in Nebraska’s legislature. Earlier this year, after Pete Stark came out as the first non-theist member of Congress, Chambers followed suit.

According to Wired (why are they my source for political news?):

The suit (.pdf), filed in a Nebraska district court, contends that God, along with his followers of all persuasions, “has made and continues to make terroristic threats of grave harm to innumerable persons.” Those threats are credible given God’s history, Chambers’ complaint says.

Chambers, in a fit of alliteration, also accuses God of causing “fearsome floods, egregious earthquakes, horrendous hurricanes, terrifying tornadoes, pestilential plagues, ferocious famines, devastating droughts, genocidal wars, birth defects, and the like.”

Likewise the suit accuses God of having his chroniclers “disseminate in written form, said admissions, throughout the Earth in order to inspire fear, dread, anxiety, terror and uncertainty, in order to coerce obedience to Defendant’s will.”

…

Chambers filed the suit to make a point that the state constitution allows lawsuits to be filed for any reason, according to WOWT.

…

God did not immediately respond to a non-denominational prayer for comment by this reporter.

So to recap, why is he suing? To show (in his words) “that anyone can sue anyone including God. It’s an object lesson too. It demonstrates that the mere filing of a lawsuit doesn’t guarantee a win.”

A little more reasoning:

Chambers says senators periodically have offered bills prohibiting the filing of certain types of suits. He says his main objection is the constitution requires that the doors to the courthouse be open to all. Chambers said, “Thus anybody can file a lawsuit against anybody – even God.”

Chambers said he decided to file this lawsuit after a suit was filed in early September in federal court against Lancaster County Judge Jeffre Cheuvront. He’s the judge who was hearing a sexual assault case, where the woman wants to use the words “rape and victim” during her testimony.

Mojoey says:

There is no God therefor[e] there is no suit. Chambers just wasted some of my hard earned money.

Actually, Omaha’s NBC affiliate says otherwise:

Creighton law professor Mike Fenner says, “It’s a frivolous lawsuit but not one that’s really going to cost anyone much.”

Glad that’s settled.

Some religious people will take this out of context. They shouldn’t. Chambers is not attacking God. He’s not doing it because he’s a non-theist. He’s trying to make a point. And because of the nature of the Defendant, I think it works well.

Actually, the lawsuit is hilarious. Read it. It’s short (5 pages, PDF). Here’s a portion from the “Factual Basis of the action” section:

Plaintiff [Chambers], despite reasonable efforts to effectuate personal service upon Defendant (“Come out, come out wherever you are”) has been unable to do so.

(via You Made Me Say It…)


[tags]atheist, atheism, Secular Coalition for America, lawsuit[/tags]

Filed Under: General, Secular Coalition for America 28 Comments
  • Claire

    For those who find this amusing (me!), you may want to find a copy of “Blameless in Abaddon” by James Morrow, in which god is put on trial at the Hague for crimes against humanity. He’s a wonderful writer – in any other author’s hands, I would expect this to be heavy, dull, and preachy, but it’s a wonderful read.

    From Amazon: “This is the sequel to “Towing Jehovah”, a novel that garnered a World Fantasy Award and earned its author the moniker, “Christianity’s Salman Rushdie.”
    but you don’t really need to read the first book to enjoy this one.

  • Mriana

    Suing God? ROFLMBO! NOW that is a frivilous law suit. So how much money is he asking God for? ROFLMOBO! I bet he won’t ever see a penny of it.

  • Richard Wade

    God will probably setttle out of court. Unless he moves to Florida where the laws allow him to hide his money. He could take some lessons from O.J.

  • http://badidea.wordpress.com/ Bad

    I just hope he doesn’t get himself held in contempt: courts don’t and can’t take kindly to people playing games or trying to prove meta-points, no matter what the purpose.

  • http://emergingpensees.com Mike C

    I’m afraid Elie Wiesel already beat Chambers to this idea.

  • monkeymind

    I grew up in Nebraska. I always appreciated how Ernie Chambers added “color” to our local politics in many more ways than one!

  • http://www.skepchick.org writerdd

    I think it’s dumb. But funny anyway.

  • athenebelle

    ROFL

  • Mriana

    You are right, Mike. Many Jews did after the Holocaust for that matter, but not in a legal court. Harold S. Kushner, a rabbi, came up with some good answers in his book “When Bad Things Happen to Good People” and I can’t say anything bad about his book. Can’t say I agree with everything he says, but what I do agree with makes the book worth recommonding to the religious and almost anyone else willing to read his POV. He’s not Billy Graham or Farwell, which is good, because I had to read it for a class a few years ago and I would have been miserable reading if he were.

  • ash

    this is ridiculous. the amount of people and factions claiming to represent god wouldn’t be able to fit into a courthouse, let alone agree on a defense. :) :roll:

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  • Chuck

    Hey, now, Ernie’s not a Democrat. State Senators aren’t a partisan job in Nebraska, and the only time he ran for partisan office he ran for the New Alliance Party.

    Oh, and he’s by far the smartest guy in the Legislature.

  • myr

    God does not need an advocate and he does not need to justify himself in front of anyone.

    Furthermore, it is not God who is doing all the bad in this world, but the contrary is the case. God tries to save, while his enemy and his followers try to destroy the creation by all means.

    Open your eyes….look good….
    Who is making the wars ? Not God, but humans!
    Who is making the terror ? Not God, but humans!
    Who is doing all sorts of fleshly sin ? Not God, but humans!

    Humanity has to bear the consequences of its own wrongdoings, because by making war against each-other, they are destroying each-other. Therefore, not God destroys and you can clearly see that on 11th September 2001, because where were the 60.000 people who daily work in the World Trade Center that day ? Most of them were stuck in traffic jams….so do you still think that God would be the destroyer ? No, he sent out his angels to try save them all and most of the daily workers have been saved. That is the truth and you see it when you look back to that day.

    Therefore open up your eyes, but most of all, open up your heart, because only then will you able to see the truth: God exists, he is the giver of life and he is love and love would never destroy anything!

    Myriam

  • Richard Wade

    Who is making the wars ? Not God, but humans!
    Who is making the terror ? Not God, but humans!
    Who is doing all sorts of fleshly sin ? Not God, but humans!

    Dirty rotten humans. For some people, a prerequisite for membership in their religion is an extremely low opinion of their own species. Perhaps they come to this opinion because they use themselves as the only example.

    So humans get all the blame for the war, terror and sin but no credit for the peacemaking, reconciliation and virtue? When humans work hard to kill each other that’s them, but when humans work hard to save each other’s lives that’s God and not them?

    Humanity has to bear the consequences of its own wrongdoings, because by making war against each-other, they are destroying each-other. Therefore, not God destroys and you can clearly see that on 11th September 2001, because where were the 60.000 people who daily work in the World Trade Center that day ? Most of them were stuck in traffic jams….so do you still think that God would be the destroyer ? No, he sent out his angels to try save them all and most of the daily workers have been saved. That is the truth and you see it when you look back to that day.

    When I look back at that day I see a handful of humans who killed three thousand other humans BECAUSE THEY BELIEVED THAT GOD WANTED THEM TO, and I see thousands of humans who risked and gave up their lives to save the victims because they loved humans in general.

    Myriam, the next time you’re stuck on the freeway, thinking it’s not just a poorly designed system of transportation but it could be angels at work, turn your rear view mirror toward yourself and take a long, hard look at your very one-sided, unfair and unsympathetic attitude you have about people.

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  • Mriana

    She is right Richard, God had nothing to do with it. It is solely the humans who favour war, instead of peace, violence over compassion, they are also to blame for terror. Now if they make peace and alike then yet they are credited for that too. There is no supernatural deity involved though.

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  • Claire

    Furthermore, it is not God who is doing all the bad in this world, but the contrary is the case

    Earthquakes. Tornadoes. Floods. Droughts. Volcanoes. No humans there…

    Bridges that collapse during rush hour instead of the middle of the night. Airplane parts that shear off without warning. Fires started by lightning. No humans doing evil there..

    I have heard some christians say that the devil does these things, but they admit that he couldn’t without god’s permission. So again, whose fault?

    No one expected the WTC twin towers to fall. No one would have been surprised if they had stood long enough for most people to get out. This theoretical god could have postponed the collapse for a couple of hours, but didn’t. Maybe because it’s the same god that told those 20 guys to fly into it? Or maybe because he just doesn’t exist….

    Truth is, sometimes shit just happens. It’s a shame not everyone is strong enough to live with that truth, but have to tell themselves that it’s just all a part of god’s plan and therefore is ok.

    It’s not ok, it’s never been ok, it’s still awful, but we just have to do the best we can. Just stop giving some mythical god credit for all the good stuff.

  • http://www.zouhet.blogspot.com God

    Do you really think I need a lawyer ? Just watch and learn …

  • Mriana

    Oh God you devil! OK George, let’s see you do your magic. I need a ride there, so can I right in the side car of your motorcycle to the hearing?

  • http://www.zouhet.blogspot.com God

    You can left, if you don’t mind.

  • Mriana

    Huh? You want me to signal left? OK I’m guessing your turn signal is broken you don’t know how to fix it?

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/03155200057794168618 God

    Why did I ever allow Babel’s tower ?

  • Mriana

    But George, that’s a story. You know how we humans are.

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/03155200057794168618 God

    Darling, dearest, you can RIDE on my bike if you like, but RIGHT is a direction. Right ? So, stop guessing and get yourself a dictionary.
    Or, as I would explain to a two-year old, left is where your tumb is on the right side, right is where your tumb is on the left side, unless you’re looking at your feet, in that case, you won’t be able to spot any tumbs, or you shouldn’t be able to spot them, if you do spot them there, you have a problem, just a mild one, it can be fixed next time you come into my garage and have the right application form in hand, the hand, that is where you will find your tumb and a number of fingers, not toes, toes are for walking, they should be in your shoes, not your gloves.
    I hope it’s not too complicated for you.

  • Mriana

    Tell that to our cousins, George. They use their feet as hands, sometimes to peel bananas. I tell you, those chimps, try as they might, they just can’t keep up with us human apes, but boy can they talk with their hands. The other ape, Cocoa, she just loves to talk, but she does love her kitty too.

    Anyway, thanks for the lift to watch the Kangeroo Court. Oh wait, this could be a three ring circus, come to think of it. Anyway, it’s an honour to ride in the side car of your motorcycle. :D

  • http://www.blogger.com/profile/03155200057794168618 God

    The pleasure is all mine, as it always is :-)
    Just one last thing about George’s cousins, I presume you’re refering to George Bush Jr.. You know, they’re not really his cousins, it’s just his family but he’s an outcast. Anyway, those chimps, they’ve got their act together, they enjoy life, eat, drink, make love (hmm), sleep, … without worrying about all those stupid things humans worry about like the colour of their hair, the size of their cars, … Still, I wonder, have you never met anyone who can talk with his hands ? Who can make you scream just by the power of his touch ? If that’s the case, you’re really missing out on something.

    Oh well, got to go for now, I have a date with Putin this evening, he’s up to something that’s not to my liking, bloody idiot.

  • Mriana

    Nah, I was referring to God George Burns. Oh wait, God George died and Morgan took his place. OH! Sorry about the confusion. I forgot. You’re Morgan. God Morgan Freeman! I have two questions for you: Why did you let that yahoo named Bruce take your place for a while? He really screwed everything up down here and why didn’t you fix everything that yahoo messed up when you took your job back?

    No, no one has made me scream by the power of touch. Oh no! You didn’t? Not with the chimps! Well, I guess every ape species needs their god/man. Planet of the Apes will never be the same once they find God.