Jesus Burns To Ground

A bolt struck a 62-foot-tall statue of Jesus Christ on Monday outside a church
in Monroe, Ohio, and the statue erupted in flames. All that remains is a charred
steel skeleton, its spindly arms stretched toward heaven, a gesture that once
earned it the nickname "Touchdown Jesus."

Darlene Bishop, co-pastor of Solid Rock Church, says she's simply relieved that
the lightning hit Jesus and not the home for at-risk women next door.

"I told them, 'It looks like Jesus took a hit for you last night,' " she says.

Act of God? Act of nature?

In 2008, lightning singed the fingers and eyebrows of Christ the Redeemer, the
130-foot Jesus statue that stands over Rio de Janeiro. In 2007, a bolt blasted
the 33-foot Jesus statue at Mother Cabrini Shrine in Golden, Colo. One of
Jesus's arms fell off.

The saints and angels are not safe either. The Notre Dame de Chicago's Virgin
Mary burst into flames from her perch atop the church's dome in 1978; the
Engineering News Record covered the construction of a new, lightning-resistant
statue with the headline: "Burned once, dome reMaryed."

A bolt that struck St. Joan of Arc's statue in New Orleans sliced her brandished
staff in half. Statues of the Angel Moroni, which frequently top Mormon
churches, have been hit by lightning with such frequency -- Moroni's horn is
particularly susceptible -- that the Salt Lake Tribune once fretted over their
safety in a front-page story.

(Side note: Actor James Caviezel was struck by lightning in 2003 while filming
Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ." He was playing Jesus.) See Chick's SOMEBODY ANGRY?