Athiests! Agnostics! It's time for you to believe!

[Mercator]

Among the myths about negative effects is the "crispy critter" myth. This is the belief that the victim struck by lightning bursts into flames or is reduced to a pile of ashes. In reality, lightning often flashes over the outside of a victim, sometimes blowing off the clothes but leaving few external signs of injury and few, if any, burns.

(source: http://tigger.uic.edu/labs/lightninginjury/ltnfacts.htm)

Also...

http://tigger.uic.edu/labs/lightninginjury/index.htm

http://www3.bc.sympatico.ca/lightningsurvivor/index.html

I couldn't help myself.

[Dis]

though I have heard of a case where a girl was struck by lightning on her metal tongue stud.

A good reason not to put metal on your body

[Elok]

I said we should drop it, but if you insist:

The air is a poor conductor, and therefore generates waste heat, true; however,
A. The human body conducts because of its high content of salt and water, which is still nowhere near as good as metal, and even metal generates waste heat from a suitably large source of power. Mercator's link claims that most of lightning's energy is burned away by its travel through inefficient air (thunder, light, waste heat), but the figure they claim for the actual power of the entire bolt on that page is absurd-just enough to power a light bulb for a few months or some crap like that.
B. The air ends precisely one inch or so above the point where the human begins, and nobody argues that the waste heat generated by that air is ENORMOUS. Except Skywalker, who says it's just really heavily concentrated. Of course, a class four laser is just "heavily concentrated," otherwise harmless light, and it can dice you up like a salami, but...

Note also that the human body is stuffed full of convenient channels designed to conduct electrical energy far better than the surface skin ever could. They're called nerves. They're found most plentifully in a straight line down the center of the body, whereas the surface skin is by comparison no more attractive than wet cork. The lightning has no reason to aim for the body and then channel itself through the skin. Those clothes you talk about it preferring instead-cotton? Polyester? Why would electricity flow through those rather than flesh? I read the arguments but they make no sense.

[Kuciwalker]

Of course, a class four laser is just "heavily concentrated," otherwise harmless light, and it can dice you up like a salami, but...

Two things: first, your analogy is completely off, because the laser doesn't interact with the air (except to an extremely small extent). Second, it supports my case. The spot the laser shines on is heated up, but the surrounding region is not significantly affected.

Note also that the human body is stuffed full of convenient channels designed to conduct electrical energy far better than the surface skin ever could. They're called nerves. They're found most plentifully in a straight line down the center of the body, whereas the surface skin is by comparison no more attractive than wet cork. The lightning has no reason to aim for the body and then channel itself through the skin. Those clothes you talk about it preferring instead-cotton? Polyester? Why would electricity flow through those rather than flesh? I read the arguments but they make no sense.Note also that the human body is stuffed full of convenient channels designed to conduct electrical energy far better than the surface skin ever could. They're called nerves. They're found most plentifully in a straight line down the center of the body, whereas the surface skin is by comparison no more attractive than wet cork. The lightning has no reason to aim for the body and then channel itself through the skin. Those clothes you talk about it preferring instead-cotton? Polyester? Why would electricity flow through those rather than flesh? I read the arguments but they make no sense.

The lightning travels just OVER the skin. I've actually even seen an example of this in a Discover magazine article (one of the "Vital Signs" things).

[Saint Marcus]

Jesus Christ Superstar

it was alright (very 70s ish though)

they made a 2000 remake. With Rik Mayall as Herod!