Legally possible to sue God?

Ol' Patty · #1 (**permalink**) 09-19-2007, 03:18 PM

Nebraska state senator sues God - Yahoo! News

By NATE JENKINS, Associated Press Writer Tue Sep 18, 5:12 PM ET

LINCOLN, Neb. - The defendant in a state senator's lawsuit is accused of causing untold death and horror and threatening to cause more still. He can be sued in Douglas County, the legislator claims, because He's everywhere.
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State Sen. Ernie Chambers sued God last week. Angered by another lawsuit he considers frivolous, Chambers says he's trying to make the point that anybody can file a lawsuit against anybody.

Chambers says in his lawsuit that God has made terroristic threats against the senator and his constituents, inspired fear and caused "widespread death, destruction and terrorization of millions upon millions of the Earth's inhabitants."

The Omaha senator, who skips morning prayers during the legislative session and often criticizes Christians, also says God has caused "fearsome floods ... horrendous hurricanes, terrifying tornadoes."

He's seeking a permanent injunction against the Almighty.

Chambers said the lawsuit was triggered by a federal suit filed against a judge who recently barred words such as "rape" and "victim" from a sexual assault trial.

The accuser in the criminal case, Tory Bowen, sued Lancaster District Judge Jeffre Cheuvront, claiming that he violated her free speech rights.

Chambers said Bowen's lawsuit is inappropriate because the Nebraska Supreme Court has already considered the case and federal courts follow the decisions of state supreme courts on state matters.

"This lawsuit having been filed and being of such questionable merit creates a circumstance where my lawsuit is appropriately filed," Chambers said. "People might call it frivolous but if they read it they'll see there are very serious issues I have raised."

U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf, in an order last week, expressed doubts about whether Bowen's lawsuit "has any legal basis whatsoever" and said sanctions may be imposed against Bowen and her attorneys if they fail to show cause for the lawsuit.

The Associated Press usually does not identify accusers in sex-assault cases, but Bowen has allowed her name to be used publicly because of the issue over the judge's language restrictions.

Cheuvront declared a mistrial in the sexual assault trial in July, saying pretrial publicity made it impossible to gather enough impartial jurors.

Heh... Here is a video as well.

YouTube - Nebraska State Senator sues God to stop terror and himself

Also there is another video at the link at the top which I believe is a bit better.

Caroline · 09-19-2007, 03:23 PM

I read about this in the paper yesterday. It wasn't a very flushed out article, but it pretty much just said that he wanted to prove a point that you could sue anyone (which is obviously the first line in this article). I see what he's trying to show, but it's a little over the top.

**Twizt3d** · 09-19-2007, 04:22 PM

If this is possible than im gonna sue "him" for fraud and false advertisement

Brother of Yeshua · 09-19-2007, 11:26 PM

What exactly does he hope to gain by suing God?

This seems really bizarre. I smell media stunt. I just can't figure out what the point and/or agenda is here to sue an entity that he either believes is in fact all powerful, or doesn't believe exists.

It just seems frivilous and pointless to me.

acutelyaware · 09-20-2007, 03:21 AM

if he sues God and the court recognizes it as feasible, wouldn't they be admitting God exists and have to take a stance on many other issues in certain ways now? plus can the government do taht wit hour country being free not entangled with any official religions?

Brother of Yeshua · 09-20-2007, 08:57 AM

That's a really good point. I'm not sure if that is what would happen, but it would set precedent, and that can come back to bite you in the ass if you aren't careful.

Also, if he believes in God (the Christian God at least) then the Bible says not to sue people, so he's just a walking contradiction about the whole thing. Or he's an atheist trying to make a point with too much time and money on his hands.

This just seems like a joke to me. I can't take this seriously.

**Ristaron** · 09-20-2007, 11:21 AM

Someone sued God back in the 1800's in the days of the early court. I believe they won due to the fact that God didn't show up.

WillyBubba · 09-20-2007, 12:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brother of Yeshua

What exactly does he hope to gain by suing God?

This seems really bizarre. I smell media stunt. I just can't figure out what the point and/or agenda is here to sue an entity that he either believes is in fact all powerful, or doesn't believe exists.

It just seems frivilous and pointless to me.

Well, apparently that's the point. He considers the federal suit against the judge frivolous (I don't see enough information one way or the other to take a personal stance on that), and is thus doing something frivolous to make a statement. Seems round-about and probably won't lead to much. I'd say debating the actual federal charges would be more effective (and would probably require more time and effort than State Senator can/wants/is able to commit) in this instance.

Is it just me or is the court system just as much as of a circus as electoral system?