From the Birmingham news reports:
Court officials were skeptical at first when … a potential juror submitted a name change form with “Jesus Christ” on it. But the 59-year-old Birmingham woman, who previously went by Dorothy Lola Killingworth, assured the presiding judge that was her name [and presented a driver’s license ….Christ … was excused because she was disruptive, court officials said. Instead of answering questions, she was asking them, a court employee in Jones’s office said….
The story doesn’t indicate which questions Ms. Christ was asking. Thanks to Language Log commenter Alex for the pointer.
Ted N Miller says:
How would she have been sworn as a juror? “So help me Dad?”
December 10, 2009, 8:50 amDaniel Charlies says:
No matter how much you may age, when you can get a little kick out of digging out stories like this, and putting them up with a header like that, you’re still in touch with your inner boy…
Not that there’s anything wrong with that. (Jesus Christ! WhattdidIsay?? Next thing they’ll be banning Tarot Cards in the college classroom — get me the ACLU on the line, dammit!)
December 10, 2009, 9:04 amAnderson says:
Instead of answering questions, she was asking them,
Maybe it really was Him … er, Her:
One day as he was teaching the people in the temple courts and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, together with the elders, came up to him. “Tell us by what authority you are doing these things,” they said. “Who gave you this authority?”
He replied, “I will also ask you a question. Tell me, John’s baptism—was it from heaven, or from men?”
They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From men,’ all the people will stone us, because they are persuaded that John was a prophet.”
So they answered, “We don’t know where it was from.”
Jesus said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”
December 10, 2009, 9:08 amBT says:
I wonder if her full name was Jesus H. Christ?
P.S. I always wondered what the H. stood for.
December 10, 2009, 9:57 amJohn Burgess says:
BT: I was told, circa fourth grade, that the H stood for Hallmark. You know, when you care, you send the very best…
I later learned that Mark Twain was (anecdotally, anyway) sacked from a printing job when he inserted the H into the text of a Bible the company was running up.
December 10, 2009, 11:27 amMike says:
The “H” in “Jesus H. Christ” stands for “Howard.”
As in, “Our Father, who art in heaven, Howard be thy name.”
December 10, 2009, 11:32 amgreg says:
Clearly, “Howard” is God’s name as God is the “Father” being referenced, not Jesus. I suppose we can assume that Jesus was given his father’s name as a middle name, but we can’t know for certain.
December 10, 2009, 12:07 pmuh_clem says:
Haploid.
December 10, 2009, 12:21 pmDavid Chesler says:
Haploid
[update] Darn, Uh Clem beat me by 3 minutes.
December 10, 2009, 12:24 pmLegalCookie says:
I thought His name was Harold?
December 10, 2009, 12:29 pmThe Unbeliever says:
Such a waste. “Killingworth” is a great last name; I’m almost (but not quite) curious enough to look up its origins.
December 10, 2009, 12:30 pmThe Awful Truth says:
So now every time a juror is dismissed in this court, the judge can say: “don’t feel bad we even turned down Jesus Christ”.
December 10, 2009, 1:14 pmLitigator London says:
I recollect a divorce petition grounded on the wife’s adultery at the couple’s villa on the Costa del Sol.
The particulars given were that “on or about [date] at [address] the Respondent committed adultery with one Jesus whose family name is unknown to the Petitioner”
And the fullness of time the Judge observed that the Respondent had the “suprising” Christian name of “Gloria”
December 10, 2009, 1:26 pmAnderson says:
L.L., would UK law allow the defense that she was practicing her religion?
You know … by Glorifying Jesus?
December 10, 2009, 2:27 pmJon Rowe says:
According to the Trinity Jesus Christ Himself is fully divine and occupies an equal status as God. So, like George Burns in “Oh God” she would say “So help me me.”
December 10, 2009, 2:47 pmSimon Jester says:
The best quote from the linked article:
“Efforts to reach Christ today were unsuccessful.”
How sad…
;->
December 10, 2009, 3:45 pmSmooth, like a Rhapsody says:
Did she list her parents as Joe and Mary Christ of Nazareth?
December 10, 2009, 4:18 pmDon de Drain says:
I have seriously considered changing my name to Authorized Personnel, so I could enter all those doors marked “Authorized Personnel Only.”
December 10, 2009, 4:30 pmleo marvin says:
“Have you heard the good news?”
[Whoops, fixed the "answers." -EV]
December 10, 2009, 5:05 pmDaniel Charlies says:
There’s a guy in FLorida was doing pretty good in politics there for a while with the name; of course, he dropped the “h”.
December 10, 2009, 5:09 pmTweets that mention The Volokh Conspiracy » Blog Archive » Jesus Christ, Stop It! -- Topsy.com says:
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Rob Parsons, Eugene Volokh. Eugene Volokh said: Jesus Christ, Stop It!: From the Birmingham news reports: Court officials were skeptical at first when … a po.. http://bit.ly/7OeypI [...]
December 11, 2009, 2:47 am