The People vs. God "The Lucifer Lawsuit" Re: The Problem of Pain, Evil and Suffering

The People vs. God is a lawsuit. "The People" ("the Plaintiff"), ostensibly humanity as a whole, are suing God ("the Defendant") for the pain, evil and suffering that are a part of human existence. The Plaintiff is represented by Lucius HellMan, Esq. The Defendant is represented by Misha-El Angelini, Esq.

The court proceedings follow the structure common to jury trials. After the Judge issues instructions to the jury, the Plaintiff's counsel makes an opening statement. This is followed by an opening statement from the Defendant's counsel.

The Plaintiff's counsel then brings his expert witnesses who present evidence in support of the Plaintiff's Complaint. These experts are then examined by the Plaintiff's counsel and cross-examined by the Defendant's counsel. Next, the Defendant's counsel introduces his expert witnesses who present evidence in support of the Defendant's position. These experts, in turn, are examined by the Defendant's counsel and cross-examined by the Plaintiff's counsel.

Once the expert testimonies are completed, the Plaintiff's counsel makes a Closing Statement following which the Defendant's counsel makes his Closing Statement.

After the Closing Statements, the Judge instructs the jury to enter into deliberation until it reaches a verdict.

The expert witnesses testifying on behalf of the Plaintiff or the Defendant include cosmologists, physicists, biologists, logicians, philosophers, psychologists and theologians. The domains under discussion include modern cosmology, physics and biochemistry, evolutionary biology, genetics, linguistics, mathematics, philosophy, psychology, sociology, comparative religion, theology and history – to the extent that these domains pertain to the Complaint. The expert witnesses were required by the Court to use language intelligible to the lay public with minimal technical jargon.

Given the identity of the Defendant and the nature of the Complaint, the media dubbed the case "the Lucifer Lawsuit" under headlines like "Satan Sues God."

R. A. Varghese is the author and/or editor of numerous books on the interface of science, philosophy, and religion. His Cosmos, Bios, Theos, included contributions from 24 Nobel Prize-winning scientists. Time magazine called Cosmos "the year's most intriguing book about God." Cosmic Beginnings and Human Ends, a subsequent work, won a Templeton Book Prize for "Outstanding Books in Science and Natural Theology." Varghese's The Wonder of the World was endorsed by leading thinkers include two Nobelists and was the subject of an Associated Press story. He co-authored There is a God— How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind with Antony Flew. He subsequently edited The Missing Link, a study of consciousness, thought and the human self that includes contributions from three Nobel Prize winners and scientists from Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, and Yale. He also authored Metaverse of Mind – the Cosmic Social Network.