Bar Sues Local Church

[Marcia Moore]

     In a small Texas town, a new tavern business started constructing a building in which to open up a bar.  The local Baptist church began a campaign to block the bar from opening with petitions and prayers.  Work progressed, however 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 until the bar owner sued the church on the grounds that the church was ultimately responsible for the destruction 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 it appears from the paperwork that we have a bar owner who believes in the power of prayer, and an entire church congregation that doesn't."