God on Trial
"The most dangerous trial in history has never been held — until now."
A novel by Dr. Sabri Bebawi — seeking screenplay writers, producers, directors, and independent filmmakers ready to bring the world's most daring courtroom drama to the screen.
Logline
"When the survivors of history's greatest atrocities — the Holocaust, genocide, war, and famine — convene a tribunal to put God on trial for crimes against humanity, one defense attorney must argue the impossible: that God is innocent."
A Premise That Has Never Been Filmed
Imagine a courtroom. Not in any city you know — but in the space between faith and despair, between prayer and silence. The defendant is God. The prosecutors are the survivors — men and women who prayed, who believed, who called out in the darkness and heard nothing.
The charges: abandonment of humanity. Negligence in the face of genocide. Silence during the Holocaust. Indifference to the cries of children. The evidence: six million dead. Entire peoples erased. Prayers unanswered across centuries of suffering.
The witnesses take the stand one by one. A Holocaust survivor. A mother who lost her child to war. A philosopher who lost his faith in a prison cell. A theologian who has spent his life defending the indefensible. Each testimony is a wound. Each cross-examination is a revelation.
And then — the defense begins. And what the defense argues will shake everything the audience thought they believed. Because God on Trial is not a film about atheism. It is not a film about religion. It is a film about the most human question ever asked: Why?
Comparable Works
Think Judgment at Nuremberg — but the defendant is God. Think The Trial of the Chicago 7 — but the stakes are eternal. Think 12 Angry Men — but the jury is all of humanity. This is a film in the tradition of the great courtroom dramas, elevated by a philosophical depth that has never been attempted on screen.
Why This Film. Why Now.
The World Is Ready
In an era of religious extremism, political violence, and global suffering, audiences are hungry for a film that dares to ask the questions that faith has always forbidden.
The Budget Is Achievable
A single courtroom. A small, powerful ensemble cast. No special effects. No explosions. Just words, faces, and the most devastating drama ever written. This is the ideal independent film.
The Story Is Complete
The novel is finished, published, and available. The structure is already cinematic — scenes, witnesses, testimony, verdict. A skilled screenplay writer will find the architecture already built.
What Makes This Film
A Courtroom Unlike Any Other
God stands accused. Humanity is the prosecutor. The verdict will shake the foundations of faith, reason, and justice. The courtroom setting offers rich visual drama — witness testimony, cross-examination, and explosive confrontations between belief and doubt.
Universal Themes
Why does evil exist if God is good? Why do the innocent suffer? These are questions every human being carries. This story gives them a stage — and forces an answer. Audiences of every background will find themselves in the dock alongside the characters.
A Cast of Compelling Characters
Philosophers, theologians, survivors of tragedy, and ordinary people who have lost their faith — each witness brings a different voice, a different wound, a different truth. The ensemble structure is ideal for an intimate independent production.
Global Relevance
In an era of religious conflict, political extremism, and moral uncertainty, this story speaks to the world. It is not anti-religion — it is pro-humanity. It asks the hardest questions with intellectual courage and emotional depth.
Dr. Sabri Bebawi
Dr. Sabri Bebawi is an Egyptian-American educator, journalist, author, and scholar who has taught at universities across the United States for decades. Born in Egypt, shaped by the Arab world, and forged by a lifetime of intellectual courage, he writes from a place that few authors occupy: the intersection of deep faith, devastating doubt, and uncompromising honesty.
He has written about Islam, Christianity, political systems, the human condition, and the failures of civilization. He has been threatened for his words. He has written them anyway. God on Trial is his most personal and most dangerous work — a book that cost him something to write, and that will cost audiences something to watch.
That is what great cinema does. It costs you something.
Full biographyRead the Complete Book — Free
The full text of God on Trial is available as a free PDF download.
Screenplay writers, producers, directors, and independent filmmakers are welcome to read and evaluate the work at no cost. Rights inquiries welcome.
Download Free PDFThis Story Is Looking for the Right People
Screenplay Writers
The architecture is already here — witnesses, testimony, cross-examination, verdict. A gifted writer will find this novel practically writes itself as a script. The dialogue is already dramatic. The structure is already cinematic. What it needs is your craft.
Independent Filmmakers
One courtroom. A small, powerful ensemble. No special effects — only faces, words, and silence. This is the kind of film that wins festivals and changes minds. It does not need a Hollywood budget. It needs a filmmaker with courage.
Producers
The rights are available. The book is complete and published. The story has a built-in audience — anyone who has ever asked why God allows suffering. That is not a niche. That is every human being who has ever lived.
Directors
Imagine directing the scene where a Holocaust survivor takes the stand and faces the defense attorney who must argue that God is innocent. Imagine the silence in the courtroom. Imagine the silence in the theater. This is the film of a lifetime.
Independent Publishers
A new edition of this book — with a foreword, an introduction, or a companion essay — would find a ready audience in the wake of a film adaptation. Dr. Bebawi is open to conversations about republication, translation, and new editions.
Ready to Talk?
No obligation. Just a conversation between people who believe in the power of story.
Email Dr. BebawiReach Dr. Bebawi Directly
Whether you are a screenplay writer, filmmaker, producer, director, or publisher — Dr. Bebawi wants to hear from you. He answers his own email. He will read what you write. He is not behind a wall of agents and assistants.
If this story moves you — reach out. That is all it takes.
Email Dr. Bebawi