Well, it’s to deflect lightning strikes, of course, so they don’t destroy the church steeple. Didn’t you know that?

A trivial question and a trivial answer, of course. But the underlying sentiment is not quite so trivial. Why can’t God just make sure, on the quiet, through some heavenly bye-law, that lightning strikes don’t happen on churches? Probably no-one would ever really notice that churches never got hit, but even if they did it could be explained away as chance. Even if the level of chance did get to be a talking point, surely it wouldn’t be such a bad thing for God to have people wondering whether perhaps after all there is some kind of divine protection for believers. I know God is not supposed to be keen on making conspicuous displays of His presence (and boy isn’t he good at that!), but I would have thought this was not a particularly big thing to ask, just to keep His followers safe in their buildings dedicated to Him?

On the contrary, though, it seems God is not buying into the “look after your own” arrangement. In mid-August 2007, there was a devastating earthquake in Peru, centred on the town of Pisco. The national police colonel Roger Torres told the AFP news agency that at least 308 people were confirmed dead in Pisco, including 160 worshippers who were crushed when the town's San Clemente church collapsed. Yes, that’s right – more than half the victims were church-goers, crushed to death beneath the stonework of their church when God allowed it to collapse on them. I wonder if they were still praying as they died beneath the rubble?

I don’t know about you, but if I ever go in a church again I’ll make sure it’s got a lightning rod first.