Taking G-d to Court

By COLlive reporter

A US judge has thrown out a case against God, ruling that because the defendant has no address, legal papers cannot be served.

BBC News reported that the suit was launched by Nebraska state senator Ernie Chambers, who said he might appeal against the ruling.

He was seeking a permanent injunction to prevent the “death, destruction and terrorization” caused by God.

Judge Marlon Polk said in his ruling that a plaintiff must have access to the defendant for a case to proceed.

“Given that this court finds that there can never be service effectuated on the named defendant this action will be dismissed with prejudice,” Judge Polk wrote in his ruling.

Mr Chambers cannot refile the suit but may appeal. “Since God knows everything,” he reasoned, “God has notice of this lawsuit.”

In response, Chabad Rabbi Nechemia Schusterman, Director of Chabad in Peabody, Massachusetts, said that the ruling raised a question for him: “Can we realistically take G‑d to court?”

“Quite frankly, as quacky as the Senator’s case seems, he may have been onto something,” Schusterman asks.

“Shouldn’t G‑d be held accountable for all the suffering that He is aware of, and certainly is in the position to ameliorate? If the system is fair, it would seem that G‑d should be required to answer for His “missteps”—at least as they impact our lives!”

He quoted Elie Weisel‘s book The Trial of G‑d describing an episode that he witnessed as a teenager in the concentration camps. Three sages constituted a Beit Din, put G‑d on trial and found Him guilty. After issuing their guilty verdict they announced that it was time to go and pray the afternoon prayers.

Schusterman added in an op-ed: “We too may take G‑d to court; to cry, complain, emote, and express our feelings of rage, despair, fear and desperation. But when we are done, we need to follow it up with “and now let’s pray the afternoon prayers.” We need to follow our rant with something positive and productive; we need to reaffirm our faith in Him.”