Court rules Christ arose from the dead

MUNICH, Germany — Did Christ really rise from the dead? A German court says yes. The unusual ruling came in an unusual lawsuit brought by three theologians. The trio sued Germany’s Protestant and Roman Catholic churches for bringing the name of Jesus Christ into disrepute.

Using a law that lets people defend the reputations of dead relatives, the three called themselves Christ’s “brothers in spirit” and said that the churches had lost the right to call themselves Christian because of their involvement in wars. “In view of their bloody history, it’s a fraud,” said one of the plaintiffs. The judge dismissed the case May 24, ruling that the German constitution’s guarantee of religious freedom protected the churches from such suits. The judge also ruled that because Christians believe Christ arose from the dead, His purported “brothers” had no right to bring a case in His behalf, since the law applied only to dead relatives.