It reads like a joke, so I don’t know if it’s true or not, though it does come from the Clark County Democrat of Grove Hill, Alabama from late October, 2009. Thanks to Pete Slosberg, who sent me the link. Apparently, a Texas beer joint sues church…. Here’s the joke … er, story:
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 to block the bar from opening with petitions and prayers. 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, 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.”
Interesting story though at the urban legend reference site, snopes.com, this is categorized under “entries that describe plausible events so general that they could have happened to someone, somewhere, at some time, and are therefore essentially unprovable.” and it has appeared referencing cities other than Mt. Vernon, Texas.
http://www.snopes.com/humor/iftrue/prayer.asp