I would also love to see it go to court. Acting for the defence, I would get hold of the meteorological record to prove that cyclones in the Philippines pre-dated Elvis.
I would then get hold of the historical record where there were accounts to show the country has been devastated by cyclones before Man had any influence on CO2 concentrations i.e. before industrialisation.
This would prove that THOSE cyclones are natural phenomena, and would fall under the "Act of God" category.
Next, I would explain to the court how the distribution of the intensities of cyclones past (as with all meteorological phenomena) allows us to create a data set from which we can extrapolate intensity and frequency probabilities for cyclones going forward. I would then call upon experts in the field to demonstrate that this particular event was within expected standard deviations for such a storm intensity with an expected return period (i.e. 1 in 50 year, 1 in 100 year, 1 in 500 year storm).
I would conclude my defence by stating this storm was therefore still an "Act of God". If perchance the court's conclusion was that it had fallen outside expected return periods, and that Man could be implicated, we can then expect the court to apportion blame between God and Man.
Either way, and after however many years it will take, let's see if Brother Jaazeal Jakosalem and Father Manny Bolilia's organisation to which they belong - that representative of God's will i.e. the Church - is willing to pay for its share of the damages as ruled by the court.....
.......or is it still a case of having all the Authority, but taking none of the Responsibility?
