The belief that God personally directs every event has persisted even in scientifically sophisticated societies. When Benjamin Franklin invented lightning rods in 1752, most churches refused to fit them because they thought they interfered with God’s ability to smite people. Dances around maypoles were still being regarded as fertility rituals even in the 1800s.1 Now that we understand more, we generally regard lightning strikes, famines, and infertility as random evils that occur