(p. 22) Humans had long recognized that lighting had a pro-(p. 23)pensity for striking the tallest landmarks in its vicinity, and so the exaggerated height of church steeples–not to mention their flammable wooden construction–presented a puzzling but undeniable reality: the Almighty seemed to have a perverse appetite for burning down the buildings erected in His honor.
Source:
Johnson, Steven. The Invention of Air: A Story of Science, Faith, Revolution, and the Birth of America. New York: Riverhead Books, 2008.