A BOLT of lightning yesterday destroyed a 62-foot-tall statue of Jesus outside the Solid Rock Church in Monroe, Ohio.
'Act of God' destroys Ohio monstrosity
Made of plastic foam and fiberglass over a steel frame, the “King of Kings” statue – one of southwest Ohio’s most familiar landmarks – was erected in 2004 outside 4,000-member, non-denominational church founded by former horse trader Lawrence Bishop and his wife.
Bishop said in 2004 he was trying to help people, not impress them, with the statue. He said his wife proposed the Jesus figure as a beacon of hope and salvation and they spent about $250,000 to finance it.
According to this report, the blaze spread from the statue to an adjacent amphitheater but was confined to the attic area, and no one was injured, police Chief Mark Neu said.
Hat tip: Alan
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
June 15th, 2010 at 9:33 pm
Jebus getting destroyed must’ve looked like a scene from Clash of the Titans. Or Transformers.
They could probably leave him where he fell. All he needs are some waterwings, a rubber ring, a peg on his nose and goggles.
A little note for engineers. It’s always best to place your lightning conductor outside the structure.
June 15th, 2010 at 9:35 pm
I have to admit that I had a good laugh about this when I first read about it, I then chided myself that on reflection, my laughter was a little uncharitable. Thinking about it a little more, spending $250,000 on this monstrosity when there are so many better causes is pretty much the definition of uncharitable.
June 15th, 2010 at 9:37 pm
So, god has fallen by the wayside. Who’s going to save him then?
June 15th, 2010 at 9:42 pm
Isn’t that technically a graven image? Is that why God got all miffed? Or maybe he thought what everyone else did: that is, like, SO tacky!
June 15th, 2010 at 9:43 pm
Foam, fiberglass with steel structure? Jesus must of smelled toxic when he burned.
June 15th, 2010 at 9:49 pm
There’s an irreverent YouTube vid about it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gq01UYiMyHg
June 15th, 2010 at 11:09 pm
Firstly, an actual engineer probably wouldn’t have built the whole thing out of styrofoam, just saying. I know my materials, and though rubber-like substances generally do well for water, they’re not so good at lightning strikes, particularly when you anchor a giant piece of metal in a lake and glob shit around it. If you want to avoid the lightning, you go with cement, or at least wood with a rod. Even with a conductor, I’d be a strike would heat the cable enough to catch the stuff on fire.
Secondly, I heard it wasn’t $250k, but $500k. And the replacement is supposed cost twice as much, or almost. Talk about wasting money. Maybe L Ron was right, maybe I should go into religion and make some fat cash by fleecing millions. Oh, wait, I have a conscience. Damn, that thing is annoying.
June 15th, 2010 at 11:12 pm
Does god and his son have some personal issues??? I’m glad I walked away from religion. How do the fundies handle this???
June 15th, 2010 at 11:13 pm
What the blazes?
June 15th, 2010 at 11:44 pm
I wonder how the Christian loonies will spin this? The work of Satan?
June 15th, 2010 at 11:59 pm
Of course, Alan: need you ask? When things go right “The Lord” is with them, and when they go wrong it’s all the fault of “The Devil”!
June 16th, 2010 at 12:42 am
If he really wanted to help people, he’d have spent that quarter of a million helping the needy, not building a shoddy, unsafe eyesore which is of use to nobody at all. Except perhaps Mr Bishop’s inflated ego.
Hilarious.
Glad nobody was hurt though. No thanks to Mr Bishop. Or god.
June 16th, 2010 at 12:43 am
The bible says “god is not mocked” – I guess this proves it.
June 16th, 2010 at 2:21 am
Here’s the bad news freethinkers. You cannot interpret an event like this for the brainwashed. If harwood was here, he could tell you that that some christian lore supposes that Paul (Saul of Tarsus) was converted by a bolt of lightning. Those who desire to believe will assume that this is a sign of god’s approval on their endeavors. Some will no doubt be stunned by it, and attribute it to the devil. The saddest value are the one’s playing church on Sunday so they can get layed on Monday.
Maybe we could put a lighting rod in the pope’s ridiculous hat?
NeoWolfe
June 16th, 2010 at 3:15 am
I hear the replacement is to be either a giant Mr Blobby, or The Marshmallow Man
out of Ghostbusters.
June 16th, 2010 at 3:25 am
What I would like to do is truck a load of starving african kids from say Somali to the doorstep of this place and get the owners to explain to these kids how making this statue was important. Imagine that the whole family, spoilt brat son, picking nose, emo slutty daugther txting, mom checking out the preacher’s butt and dad checking out all the other daugthers butt’s coming across a swarm of bug eating hungry african kids and having to explain the price of the thing. Justice I think.
June 16th, 2010 at 6:07 am
Personnally, I find that pretty sad myself. Why? ‘Cause, whatever we might think of the purpose of the statue, or the waste of money on it, and how ironic the situation might look like, I think of it as a loss of a work of art, and hell, a pretty big and good one from what I see on most photos. So, all in all, even if I disagree completely with the people who made the art, I find it a shame that it was lost.
June 16th, 2010 at 6:30 am
Now we know,there is a God and He’s definitely not a Christian.
June 16th, 2010 at 6:44 am
I watched the YouTube-clip and it is irreverent, but maybe not as much as the destruction of this wonderful piece of art, comparable to Michelangelo’s Pieta. I wonder who’s behind it: rabid atheists?
June 16th, 2010 at 7:09 am
Not waving, but drowning
June 16th, 2010 at 7:11 am
I have this image of a giant finger-pointing Hand of God reaching through a cloud to fire lightning at Jebus. Just like in one of Terry Gilliam’s Monty Python animations.
June 16th, 2010 at 7:31 am
Good shooting, Thor!
June 16th, 2010 at 8:43 am
Last night on my way home from work I noticed a sign outside the local fundie church which read: ‘The bible says god opposes humanism.’
I guess this action says he opposes old Jebus too. Poor chap.
June 16th, 2010 at 8:48 am
What if the replacement was a huge tower topped with an Eye of Sauron?
June 16th, 2010 at 9:25 am
A good result: Nature 1, Religious icon 0.
That half finished statue is one of the most revolting things I’ve seen in while and what a waste of money to satisfy someone’s vanity. Those xtians nutters don’t like spending their money on anyone other than themselves do they?
June 16th, 2010 at 9:48 am
Now I know southwest ohio’s fairly uneventful but… was this really one of our most familiar landmarks? I’m embarrassed.
June 16th, 2010 at 4:53 pm
Pic of the conflagration here:
http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-i.....6680110544
June 16th, 2010 at 4:55 pm
Here then:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worl.....burns-down
June 16th, 2010 at 8:12 pm
So how does he square his Christian conscience with the idea that the insurance company can only pay out if it’s ruled an Act of God?
June 17th, 2010 at 1:33 pm
I read that about 400 meters away, just across the highway, a sign for a local Hustler Adult Bookstore remained unscathed.
Had the sign been a bit higher, and more attractive to the natural forces, perhaps it would have gone up instead.
Meanwhile the mindless apologists are claiming that burning the plastic jesus to the ground was not “an act of god”.
Boing Boing has an excellent before, during, and after photo here:
http://www.boingboing.net/2010.....kes-ma.htm
And here’s an excellent news story by Cincinnatti.com (emphasize the “cin” part)
http://news.cincinnati.com/art.....tning-fire