Friday, June 27, 2008

Irony

I can't vouch for the authenticity of this - it may be just a made-up story. But it's plausible, and an interesting lesson:
In a small Texas town, ( Mt. Vernon ) Drummond's bar began construction on a new building to increase their business. With petitions and prayers, the local Baptist church started a campaign to block the bar from opening . Work progressed right up until 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, but as it appears from the paperwork, we have a bar owner who believes in the power of prayer, and an entire church congregation that does not.
It reminds me of the Simpson's episode in which people believe the end of the world is coming, so all the patrons of the bar run over to the church, while all the congregants of the church run over to the bar.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Unlettered in the law as I am, perhaps I'm mistaken about there being no liability for "acts of God." If there is, then perhaps that congregation is being badly served by the lawyer they hired.