I don’t know.

One thing I take from Job is that God does not reward charity or reading to blind people or even devout worship. Praying to God will not help the Red Sox beat those damn Yankees.

If we view God as an amoral ruler of all the Universe, then He clearly operates forces outside human control. There are Angels in the Outfield. They don’t care which team has been praying, but they will guide the winds to send fly balls over the fence.

So while praying to God for victory may be useless, thanking God for success is perfectly appropriate. By thanking God, an athlete would be acknowledging the manipulation of forces outside of human control that ensured victory.

This is not to say that God’s role should take away from athletic accomplishments. Successful athletes train exceptionally hard and possess incredible, natural (God-given?) ability. That said, they clearly cannot control every aspect of their play (except for maybe LeBron James—He Got Game).

It seems that God has been manipulating forces in favor of Harvard’s women’s hockey team. The second coming of defender Angela Ruggiero and center Jennifer Botterill has been nothing if not messianic.

So next time a Harvard athlete—or any athlete for that matter—thanks God after a victory, I will no longer be confused or upset. I will understand that they are referring to an all-powerful, amoral force that governs all the universe, who is equally responsible for mountain goat reproduction, the AIDS virus and the Curse of the Bambino.

—Staff writer David A. Weinfeld can be reached at weinfeld@fas.harvard.edu.