Hand of God

I was intrigued to read about another election which took place at the weekend - this time in Egypt where the country's Christian minority elected themselves a new Coptic Pope.

A strange process you have to say which involved a specially selected and blindfolded 6 year-old boy - who reached into a glass bowl containing the names of three possible candidates.

The symbolism being that the 'hand of God' was guiding the hand of the young boy - and so ensured the right choice was made.

The thought that immediately jumped into may mind was - "How come the young boy needed a  blindfold if the 'hand of God' was really at work here?"

Then I had another thought - wasn't the 'hand of God' at work to secure victory for Argentina over in England in the 1992 World Cup - when Diego Maradona blatantly punched the ball into the net.

But then went on to claim that divine intervention won the game - not cheating.

Anyhow the Supreme Being has his name prayed in aid by all kinds of people - and almost on a daily basis it seems.

For example, the suicide killers who regularly blow fellow Muslims to bits on a regular basis - claim that the 'hand of God' is guiding their murderous deeds.

So it seems God can be invoked for just about anything these days - from football to elections and even civil wars.

The new Coptic Pope - Pope Tawadros II - has his work cut out by the way.

Because his immediate predecessor - Pope Shenouda III - held the post for over 40 years and was a firm supporter of the former tyrant and now discredited Egyptian President - Hosni Mubarak.