Ernie, are you kidding?

This article was published yesterday, September 19, 2007 in the Boston Herald.

From Associated press.
photo courtesy Yahoo News

Annoyed as hell, Nebraska senator sues God

Lincoln, Neb.- The defendant in a state senator's lawsuit is accused of causing untold death and horror. He can be sued in Douglas County, the legislator claims, because He's everywhere.
State Sen. Ernie Chambers has sued God. Irked by another lawsuit he considers frivolous, Chambers says he's trying to make the point that anybody can file a lawsuit against... Anybody.
The lawsuit claims God has made terroristic threats, inspired fear and caused "widespread death, destruction and terrorization of millions upon millions of the Earth's inhabitants."
Chambers, who skips the legislature's morning prayers and often criticizes Christians, added God has caused "fearsome floods... horrendous hurricanes, terrifying tornadoes." He's seeking a permanent injunction against the Almighty.
Chambers said his lawsuit was triggered by a federal suit filed against a state judge who recently barred such words as "rape" and "victim" from a sexual assault trial. The accuser in the criminal case, Tory Bowen, sued that judge, claiming he violated her free speech rights.
"This lawsuit having been filed and being of such questionable merit creates a circumstance where my lawsuit is appropriately filed," Chambers said.
A federal judge 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 a lawsuit.


While different people may find different aspects of the events this article documents disturbing, or amusing, I hope to focus for this blog on one central issue.
Senator Chambers states he is "trying to make the point that anybody can file a lawsuit against... Anybody." Yet by his actions and criticisms, crowned by this dubious legal action, he certainly proves to take a dim view of the Christian faith, those who practice it, and believe in Him or not, God Himself.
I have to wonder what the response of his constituents would have been if he had brought suit against Allah, Budda, or Ganesh. Certainly the ACLU would get involved if a Muslim, or a Buddist or Hindu complained. The man could loose his senate seat over the political fallout of such a careless act, but somehow it is acceptable today to ridicule God in the public eye, just to make a point. I feel prayer is called for here, both for the senator who so willingly proclaims to be the enemy of God by his foolishness, and for a nation that has so little faith in God that this kind of foolishness has become acceptable.

One per cent

You may remember seeing these photographs in The New York Times, Washington Post, or your state capital's largest news publication early February, 2006.
Maybe you saw the footage of these protesters in the U.K. on MSNBC, CBS, or FOX news, shouting angry threats at the Western world over the re-publication of cartoons Muslims found offensive.
Originally printed in the Danish newspaper 'Jyllends-Posten' on September, 30 2005, the twelve cartoons seemed to cause problems, calling muslim leaders to gather and angrily decry the 'Blasphemy'. In late January of 2006 the Norwegian Christian newspaper 'Magazinet', and the newspaper website of 'Dagbladet', also based in Norway, caused the outcry you may remember so much about, as it's images flooded the U.S. press from coast to coast and border to border.
Doesn't ring a bell? You certainly remember the talk, as there was much over weeks. What about the cartoons? Do you remember those appearing in Time, Life, and The New Yorker? The one of the prophet Muhammad, his turban a bomb? The other eleven?
There is a reason you do not.
These images were deleted from every aspect of the U.S. press, as not to upset the Muslim world any further. Imagine the United States bowing to the possibility of the rage of Islam, 'the religion of peace'. So much so that the freedom of the press to depict the truth of the situation in Europe was abrogated.
Were it not for the Internet, the images worth one thousand words each if fair market value still holds, would have most likely not been presented here. Carefully read the signs of these peaceful people and study their faces, those peaceful enough not to have concealed themselves for fear of recognition (other than those who may be women. Some,who as a cultural practice wear burkas) This is the face of Radical Islam.
Several moderate Muslim leaders from countries such as Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan have stated that the 'Radical Muslim' population is only about one per cent. Bear in mind these countries are not democracies and are to one degree or another if not completely. Muslim theocracies.
The European Union's estimated population as of January, 1 2007 is four-hundred and ninety million. of this an estimated four to five percent are Muslim, giving us a rough figure of fifteen to twenty million practicing Muslims among the E.U.'s twenty-seven member states. So according to Moderate Muslim leaders there are approximately one million, five-hundred thousand, to two million practicing Muslims who could be considered to be 'Radical' by Muslim standards.




Radical is a multi -toned word. Once, an out of controlled child in a supermarket who got a well deserved swat on the behind was considered to be 'receiving discipline'. Now such a 'Radical' action can bring about a lawsuit and destroy a family in the name of the 'child's rights' should the ACLU get involved. There was a time when speaking out in protest against our own government was considered 'Radical', even illegal depending on what you said.

We find in America today, in many states if not all, you can be jailed and charged for just the threat of murder. The freedom of speech most
Western countries enjoy does not mean you can shout "Bomb" on a crowded plane at twenty thousand feet. Threatening to murder another three thousand civilians, or even more atrocious, to advocate the slaughter of another six million people for any reason certainly qualifies as 'Radical' with prejudice.
While we realize the cartoons were not published in America, though there were many who wished they were, and the protests and violence they were responded to with did not happen on our streets, or even offend our delicate senses via most forms of public media, they do with crystal clarity show the hatred of lethal intent by a portion of a religious culture toward anyone and anything it deems unacceptable.




We have had the earth shaken under our feet, the sky blackened with soot and our eyes filled with the tears of agony and loss by that one per cent, and one wonders what else we are being kept in the dark about as a nation, by the fear of those in control on our portion of the earth, that we may not further disturb such a peaceful system of belief as Islam. We can ponder these things as we go about our privileged lives, content with what we are fed daily by the news and try to think of peaceful things, and put our thoughts elsewhere. We can oppose and protest a war we at home are not personally watching our fellow soldier die or be maimed in. We can argue all the what if's our minds can handle.




This is where the enemy wants us most, and where we as a divided nation, and a divided culture are most happy to oblige because it keeps our nose out of the truth, which sometimes smells less like flowers than we would like. Things at a distance do not appear as clearly as we would think, and the faster they come at us the harder it is to make a decision about where we stand. Islam is the worlds fastest growing religion, and at least one per cent of Muslims have told us in no uncertain terms how they feel publicly, and loudly so we can not say we did not know. As of July, 2007 the population of the United States is a little over three hundred million.