A Judge's Dilemma
In a small town, a person decided to open up a brothel, which was
right opposite a church. The church & its congregation started a
campaign to block the brothel from opening with petitions and prayed
daily against his business.
Work progressed. However, when the brothel was almost complete and
about to open, a strong lightning struck the brothel and it was burnt
to the ground.
The church folks were rather smug in their outlook after that, till
the brothel owner sued the church authorities on the grounds that the
church through its congregation & prayers was ultimately responsible
for the destruction of his brothel, either through direct or indirect
actions or means.
In its reply to the court, the church vehemently denied all
responsibility or any connection that their prayers were reasons for
the act of God. As the case made its way into court, the judge looked
over the paperwork at the hearing and commented:
"I don't know how I'm going to decide this case, but it appears from
the paperwork, we have a brothel owner who believes in the power of
prayer and we have an entire church that doesn't."