The National Youth Agency: Comment - Whose side is He on?

With two minutes to go on the final day, Celtic only had to hold on to their one-nil lead to win the Premier League. They let in first one goal and then another in injury time to hand the title on a plate to their bitter rivals Rangers.

What in the wide world of sport could have brought that about? Tiredness?

Complacency? A slip by the big fella at centre half? According to Rev Joe Nwokoye, Pastor of the Zion Praise Centre in Kirkcaldy, Fife, it was the big fella upstairs. Nwokoye counts among his flock Rangers' fullback Marvin Andrews, who had stunned his club's doctors with a quick recovery from cruciate ligament damage.

"The fact that Marvin was able to continue playing, and that Rangers won the championship, was not because of the strength of Rangers, it was because God decided to give it to Marvin because Marvin prayed."

Now I'm no theologian, but this prompts a few awkward questions for me.

Why did God ignore the prayers of Celtic's huge, and for what it matters, overwhelmingly Roman Catholic fan base? What kind of message does it give to young people to suggest that it doesn't really matter how hard you work towards your aims because supernatural intervention will decide the outcome? Has anyone out there got a God that is powerful enough to make a Championship-winning team out of Leicester City?

This month, The National Youth Agency publishes A Sense of Respect, an inter-faith activity book for groups of young people seeking to understand people of different faiths and none. I'm not sure that it can help explain the mysterious ways of Pastor Joe's God, but we do in all seriousness hope it will make a valuable contribution to community cohesion in helping us to understand the motivations and beliefs of those who make up our communities.

Tim Burke is consultant editor of Young People Now. He can be contacted at timb@nya.org.uk.