It’s not the first time God has been sued. Sen. Ernie Chambers of Nebraska did it twice. It’s also not the first time God has reportedly caused beings to fall. This time it wasn’t an angel that fell. And it’s not a politician who’s suing. It’s a visitor to an Evangelical church who’s indirectly suing God. However, this lawsuit is aimed at the church itself. It’s presumably easier to facilitate a jury trial with human defendants in the courtroom.
ABC news says the plaintiff, Paula Jones, was knocked unconscious and sustained injuries when a spirit-filled church member fell backwards into several other people. As a result of the domino-effect, those injuries landed her in the hospital. She wants the church to pay her medical bills. Apparently, people fall frequently during the St. Louis church’s services, and the plaintiff thinks the church should’ve had deacons on stand-by to catch falling worshipers. At the very least, it should have warned visitors of the dangers.
When Ernie Chambers sued God, he alliteratively argued that the “defendant directly and proximately has caused…fearsome floods, egregious earthquakes, horrendous hurricanes, terrifying tornados, [and] pestilential plagues…” According to Fox news, he based his ability to sue on the fact that the “defendant, being omnipresent, is personally present in Douglas County [Nebraska.]” His beef wasn’t really with any Supreme Deity, though. He was defending the right to file frivolous lawsuits. The defendant didn’t materialize in court, however, and the cases were thrown out.
In this case, Paula Jones isn’t defending the right to frivolity; I’m not even sure that she’s exercising it. She was injured on private property and wants the property-owners to pay for damages. It only seems right that the church would pay for her medical bills. In fact, it seems that they would’ve made that offering without the need for court proceedings. It does seem like the Christian thing to do…
Then again, I grew up going to a church that was rather tame. I can’t remember anyone ever falling or being knocked-out during services except in cases of boring sermons when certain members fell asleep. The benches were violently rocked a time or two in cases when someone loudly passed gas on “Pack the Pew” night. No one was actually injured by the offending odor and no one died during the benchquakes that resulted from so much stifled laughter.
Not everyone is so fortunate. The injured, according to ABC, have sued many churches over the years as a result of falls that occurred while individuals were overcome with the Holy Spirit. What makes this case different is that Ms. Jones was not the one who was spirit-filled. The Illinois church involved in this case officially has no comment, so it isn’t clear whether the case will be settled out of court.