Archive for November 19th, 2010
An Antitrust Challenge to God
Almost 9 years ago a U.S. district judge issued a divesture order that, to my knowledge, has not yet been executed. As reported by The Onion, District Judge Elliot Schofield ordered God to break up into smaller deities arguing that HE had “willfully and actively thwarted competition from other deities and demigods, promoting His worship with such unfair scare tactics as threatening non-believers with eternal damnation (…) In the process, He has carved out for Himself an illegal monotheopoly.”
For more info on this case see here http://www.theonion.com/articles/judge-orders-god-to-break-up-into-smaller-deities,404/
It is not the first time that God faces a trial in the US. Some time ago a State Senator from Nebraska lodged a suit againts God arguing that he was responsible for a wide array of catastrophes. You can read the actual suit here, it´s hilarious. http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/threatlevel/files/chambersversusgod.pdf
But legal threats not only come from the States. Within the EU an earthly subsidiary of the ABOVE-mentioned was also sanctioned for abusing its dominant position in the market for funeral services. See here http://www.concurrences.com/abstract_bulletin_web.php3?id_article=520
Strikingly, no one seems to have considered the possibility of challenging God under Article 106. Pursuant to the “automatic abuse” doctrine stated in Hofner-Elser it could be argued that God has attributed himself exclusive rights and is manifestly unable to satisfy demand or prevent catastrophes.
Moreover, and according to Stephen Hawking´s new book that posits that God is not necessary to explain the creation, the conditions laid down in Article 106(2) would not be satisfied! http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/columnist/vergano/2010-09-06-hawking-book_N.htm