A correspondent in a letter to the National Secular Society’s Newsline relates the following:
In a small Texas town, Mt. Vernon, Drummond’s Bar began construction on a new building to increase their business. The local Baptist church started a campaign of petitions and prayers to block the bar from opening.
Work progressed right up till the week before opening, when lightning struck the bar and it burned to the ground. The church folks were rather smug in their outlook after that - until the bar owner sued the church on the grounds that the church was ultimately responsible for the demise of his building, either through direct or indirect actions or means. The church vehemently denied all responsibility or any connection to the building's demise in its reply to the court.
As the case made its way into court, the judge looked over the paperwork. At the hearing he commented, “I don’t know how I’m going to decide this, as it appears from the paperwork that we have a bar owner who believes in the power of prayer, and an entire church congregation that does not!”
