Just something that has been stuck in my head since reading this anecdote (below the video) on Unfollowing Jesus and RichardDawkins.net.
Is the power of prayer real? Does praying work? And if it does, shouldn’t you be held accountable for it’s resultant consequences?
ONLY IN TEXAS … Texas Beer Joint Sues Church in MT.Vernon, Texas . Drummond’s Bar began construction on an expansion of their building to increase their business. In response, the local Baptist Church started a campaign with petitions and prayers to block the bar from expanding. Work progressed right up until the week before the grand reopening when lightning struck the bar and it burned to the ground! After it was burned to the ground by the lightning strike, the church folks were rather smug in their outlook, bragging about “the power of prayer”, 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.” In its reply to the court, the church vehemently denied all responsibility or any connection to the building’s demise. The judge read through the plaintiff’s complaint and the defendant’s reply, and at the opening 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 now does not.”
UPDATE: Just to stop people messaging me to say that the story used as an example is a fake: As I said in the video, around the 30 second mark, it’s been disproved my Snopes. There is no need to point it out to me. The point of the story is not about it’s validity, it’s about the moral of the story. C’mon, I thought you religious types were good at realizing that stories are about morals (or is that my mistake?).
Paul O'Flaherty 