In the "You Can’t Make This Stuff Up" category is the story of Nebraska State Senator Ernie Chambers (Democrat from Omaha) suing God and his followers in an attempt to get them to stop making terrorist threats. From the Wired Threat Level Blog (found via Boing Boing):
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."
Take that ye proselytizers! But wait…it gets better:
The senator also wants the court to issue a permanent injunction
prohibiting God from issuing plagues and terrorist threats. It’s
unclear how this could work since God is usually understood to be all
powerful.Chambers does admit that God is omnipresent and omniscient, however.
Since God is everywhere, the Nebraska court has jurisdiction, Chambers
argues, and since God is all-knowing, Chambers need not serve him with
a notice of the lawsuit.The lawsuit indicates that Chambers attempted to make God appear in
order to serve him by saying "Come out, come out, wherever you are,"
but the Almight declined, like many defendants, to make it easy for a
plaintiff to serve him with court papers.
In all fairness to Mr. Chambers the story points out that he’s trying to make a point that the state constitution allows lawsuits to be filed for any reason.
Personally I think Mr. Chambers is also intent on providing us the best entertainment to come out of Omaha since Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom. Here’s a story line: Marlin Perkins and Jim Fowler assisting God with a new ark as the next great flood bears down on them in response to Mr. Chambers’ blasphemous lawsuit, or maybe it’s punishment for Chambers’ un-godly alliteration. Either way, it’s a winner.
If you’re another child of the 70s check out the Wild Kingdom boys in action here. Almost brings a nostalgic tear to my eye.
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I think this was an old movie “MIRACLE ON 48TH STREET” with Natalie Wood. (or was that about Santa Clause) anyhow I expect the same out come as the above movie or a counter suit.