A Matter Of Life Or Death

There once was a small Kentucky town that had two Churches and one whiskey distillery. Members of both Churches complained that the distillery gave the community a bad image. “Besides,” they said, “the owner is an atheist.” They tried many times to close the place down, but were unsuccessful. At last, they decided to hold a joint Saturday-night-prayer-meeting. They would petition God to intervene. Saturday night came and all through the prayer-meeting a terrible electrical storm raged. To the delight of the Church members, lightning struck the distillery and it burned to the ground. Next morning, the sermons in both Churches were on “The Power of Prayer.” Fire insurance adjusters promptly notified the distillery owner they would not pay for his damages. The fire was caused by an “act of God,” they said, and coverage for “acts of God” was excluded in the policy. Whereupon, the distillery owner sued all the Church members, claiming they had conspired with God to destroy his building. The defendants…