>>Brilliant engineers built the church on carefully selected high ground.<<
Yes, that would be my guess, when presented with the low volume of facts in the article.
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. We need to know the topography of the area and the hight of, and currents in the water that inundated that area. People were putting up pictures of fairly intact mosques in the flooded areas as well a few days ago.
I will say this: If a big earthquake hits the Seattle area and only one building survives, it will most likely be the Mormon temple, and it won't be due to any miracle.= It will be due to the fact that it was engineered and built like a brick sh**house on a known fault. I toured the thing right after it was built when I was thinking of joining that cult myself.
It will TAKE an act of God to damage that thing...
The 450-year-old church, located a few metres from the water, remained unaffected by the tsunamis even though buildings in line with it on either side were ravaged by the waves. The belief, says Father Lawrence, is that when St Thomas planted the post at the top of the steps leading to the cathedral, he said the sea would not pass that point. ‘‘But that is the legend,’’ stresses the father, ‘‘nobody knows whether it is true.’’
The priest sounds wary of declaring it a miracle. Puzzling, considering his job and that he gives visitors what he jokingly calls ‘‘credit cards to heaven’’ - neat little plastic cards laminated with a pinch of soil from St Thomas’ tomb that fit into your wallet. He offers logical explanations, like - perhaps it is because the church is built on a higher level. ‘‘But then,’’ he reasons, ‘‘the lighthouse is on roughly the same plain, and the water reached it.’’