How Do You Incriminate A God?

Which God? Most of the Gods and Goddesses have done something that might be considered criminal, but there's also the question of criminal under whose laws. If it's the Judeo-Christian God, then the Bible has more than enough, but there must be a statute of limitations. Then there's the matter of that God being the uncaused cause, which would make him responsible for all crimes ever committed.

Do the other characters know he's a god?

You say the apocalypse was man-made. Maybe mankind called him a criminal because he failed to prevent the apocalypse they caused, thereby holding him responsible for attempted genocide?

"If you're god, then why didn't you save us?"

In Three Parts Dead, a god 'dies' and there is a legal battle to see if he can be considered to blame for his own death - by overstretching his power reserves and not being able to fulfill his obligations. (you should read it, it's good) Could something similar apply? The greatest 'crime' for a sentient god could easily be deliberately reneging on their responsibilities and obligations.

What does your post-apoc. society consider a capital offense?

Why do they go to the trouble of a 100-mile walk (which would prob. take at least 4-5 days & significant manpower for a secure escort) instead of having the execution conveniently on site?

Why can't your god character just go away? What are the limits/constraints that land him in this fix? -- You can define the crime & evidence to take advantage of those.

There are plenty of religious figures (Jesus is one of the most salient examples, but also plenty of other prophets/saints/other religious leaders) who have been condemned to death throughout history. Can you mine their stories for inspiration, maybe?

He is God. Capitalized. As in THE God?

That makes him in charge of all creation, and the laws thereof. He is where he wants to be. Period.

See, you're applying human thoughts and emotions to a being that is not of this universe, much less this world.

How do you incriminate something that can make evidence cease to have ever existed once you discover it? Who can, in fact, undo the crime itself?

You don't.

That being has to admit to the crime in question.

How do you get this god to cooperate with being lead to his death? I mean, that happens sometimes (see: Christianity) but it takes some doing.

kuwisdelu said:

Do the other characters know he's a god?

You say the apocalypse was man-made. Maybe mankind called him a criminal because he failed to prevent the apocalypse they caused, thereby holding him responsible for attempted genocide?

"If you're god, then why didn't you save us?"

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Love this idea and it wouldn't feel forced like having the God commit some run of the mill crime.

How about he makes it rain for 40 days and nights and drowns everyone and everything except for a boat that was on 3 hour tour. Wait, never mind, that one has already been done...

Ask Max Gladstone.

As said before, it depends on which god (or god-like being). Most any god who has been able to walk the Earth has been of the fickle sort, that takes human nature to its extremes (vengeful, petty, etc, etc). That includes Yahweh, before he started being worshiped as the sole God. That would seem to leave a lot of options of bad behavior, from getting drunk and painting the town red, to engage in a feud in public (for instance, he might kill or seem to kill another member of the pantheon). Is this some novel god-like alien who came to Earth to experiment with creating life and is upset with the way things are going? I could imagine that sort of quasi-god getting in trouble because they're upset about the turn things have taken, maybe with the decline in technology he's not even able to leave.

If, however, this is the monotheistic God, you have to ask why he is incarnate. Is he sacrificing himself in human form again? And then also, why did he allow the apocalypse to happen?

Maybe people knew that this god had some role in the apocalypse--something that could just be in the realm of rumors.

I'd also wonder (as others have) how this god is being detained. Assumedly even if they're a minor deity they should have an easy time breaking free (though maybe not if they're a long lived demi-god?)

The first thing that came to my mind was Douglas Adam's The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul. Odin gets in legal trouble (though not criminal trouble), because he's getting old and wants to sell his power (and Thor's birthright) for a comfortable retirement. Of course, that causes trouble for Thor. The issue is that he gets in trouble with the fiddly legalese of the contract that he didn't read closely. (I've always wondered why, being a God, Thor couldn't just renege while ignoring the consequences of human law, but that's another matter).

Hera and Zeus

JFitchett92 said:

Hey all,

The only problem I have is that I don't know how to incriminate this God-like character. I could have him just kill someone, but it feels like I'd be copping out.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

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Crimes of passions? The two of them have quite a list of them under their proverbial belts

I see Gladstone has already been cited.

I don't see killing someone as copping out if there's good reason for it (say, along the lines of divine smiting). Or you could go along the lines of manslaughter versus actual premeditated murder.

If religious beliefs have gotten twisted during this time (as I feel they're likely to), he might try to correct someone and ironically be charged with heresy. Although if you want him to be treated with respect by his guards...

Unsure if he's the compassionate type for his creations, but maybe he could take the blame for someone else's crime and not actually commit it? Bonus points if it's a guard's loved one.

do the charges for the crime necessarily have to be founded? he could be guilty just because the people say he is. how much democracy would exist post apocalypse anyway?

Christ did not really commit any crime other than preaching the word of his father and yet, he was crucified...

thothguard51 said:

Christ did not really commit any crime other than preaching the word of his father and yet, he was crucified...

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I suspect he was crucified for mucking up the status quo and being hugely inconvenient to the Romans, who weren't big on live-and-let-live, what with all the conquering and slavery, etc.

If no one had listened to him, they probably would have left him alone.

If this is an omnipotent god, he's allowing them to kill him. That means he has, by inaction, condemned himself. I'd use incompetence as the offense. He sent a flood to teach us a permanent lesson, and we didn't learn. He sent us his son to teach us a permanent lesson, and we didn't learn. He inflicted an apocalypse on us, and we didn't learn. He is therefore responsible for a dangerously flawed creation.

As a metaphor, you could make his avatar guilty of negligent homocide, for instance building a shoddy house or selling spoiled meat.

A few years ago I wrote the trial of Yahweh. He was tried by the Gods for trying to kill his sister. It was sort of interesting, but it was as boring as trials usually are, so I dropped that and just referred to the result and sentence.

I think that a similar tactic might work for the opening poster. Just declare him convicted.

jjdebenedictis said:

I suspect he was crucified for mucking up the status quo and being hugely inconvenient to the Romans, who weren't big on live-and-let-live, what with all the conquering and slavery, etc.

If no one had listened to him, they probably would have left him alone.

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Not really.

The Romans did not really care that much about Christ at the time. It was the Jews who went to the Romans to complain as Jesus was upsetting their cart.

So in essence, you had one established faith complaining to the ruling party about an unknown but rising faith.

JFitchett92 said:

Sorry all, I feel like I've been a bit vague in my descriptions.

In terms of which God it is, it's THE God. Capitalised. I've just been a bit imaginitive with how he works. He exists as a human, but if he is killed he can return to the heavens or jump into a new body and live again. He wishes to leave the world forever but he can't kill himself as it is a sin. That's where the execution comes in. No one knows he is God, but he tells his escorts his life story as a parting gift (his escorts are nicer than most and treat him with respect, despite his circumstances).

I like the idea of him confessing about the apocalypse being his doing, but I feel his execution would be far worse.

Thanks for the ideas though.

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Depending on whether it works for your story or not, perhaps he turned himself in, confessed to crimes because he felt responsible for the apocalypse, though maybe he didn't cause it, ie he failed to stop it and felt guilty for failing his creations, so wants to be punished

The fact that he's being escorted to his death for an unfounded crime would be and area of justification towards the reader of why he's abandoning an 'unworthy' creation, kinda his own little pacifistic punch line at the end. Just in case one of the escorts gets the notion in their head to entertain his claims and decides to ask him WHY he's doing this and he just doesn't answer. And by the end of telling his story - he doesn't have to because the escort sees things from his point of view now (I mean that's the whole point of why you're telling the story, right?) ...just saying.

But if God allowed mortal man to kill him, wouldn't that be suicide by innaction?
My thought are that man has pretty much killed God as it is. Not to say he is powerless, or physically dead, but by not being as involved in mankinds everyday lives as he was in biblical times, he has lost his effectiveness with the majority of his creation. God seems to be under attack everyday, and more people question his existence.

Don't take this as me being an athiest either. I'm just saying God has a lot of power to force his creation to do his bidding. By allowing freewill, it is innevitable that mankind will forget him. Maybe that could be the crime.