Must every mystery be explained by the invisible hand of God?

The attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump on Saturday was, of course, profoundly disturbing and it revealed again the sharp political divisions within the country.

But it also revealed the human temptation to see the hand of God in mortal activities.

Some saw God's involvement in this catastrophe in indirect ways. For instance, as this RNS story reports, "Franklin Graham, the head of his father’s Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, similarly posted simply, “I thank God that former President @realDonaldTrump is alive.”

That's not exactly saying God purposefully saved Trump from death, but it's not far from such a claim.

More directly, as this Politico article reports, "Pastors at megachurches across the country on Sunday credited God with sparing the life of former President Donald Trump."

Trump himself, who suffered an ear injury plus the trauma of being an assassin's target, quickly joined the chorus suggesting that God made some decision about whether he would survive. The same Politico piece, for instance, included this paragraph:

"Trump had a similar message, posting on social media that 'it was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening.' Other Republican leaders shared the sentiment. Some — like New York Rep. Brandon Williams — correlated the survival of Trump with the survival of the Republic."

Another example, also from the Politico story: "Pastor Jentezen Franklin of Free Chapel in Georgia referenced Old Testament prophecies about the healing of Israel and asked God to make Trump 'a man on a mission,' to keep America 'strong and powerful.'

“'You preserved [Trump’s] life, and you don’t preserve anything you don’t have a purpose for,' Franklin said in a prerecorded prayer that was shared during service Sunday morning."

Even a Kansas City Star report quoted an Independence woman who concluded this: "I believe this is spiritual warfare. I thought about how God had protected him (Trump).”

Can any of us say with 100 percent certainty that these claims of divine intervention are poppycock? No.

But it's fair to ask what kind of fickle or incomprehensible God would save Trump but, in the same shooting, let Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old volunteer fire chief, die while he was trying to protect his family during the attempted assassination by diving onto them to shield them from the bullets. And we are always right to be skeptical of such claims when they make a politician look better and more in tune with God's will than that politician's opponents.

This connection between God and Trump has been a pretty consistent theme among his supporters from the beginning. He has been compared, for instance, to being an instrument of God in the style of the biblical King Cyrus. And Trump himself has not shied away from such comparisons.

Theological and scriptural ignorance run rampant in the U.S., even among people actively committed to one faith tradition or another. And that's part of what makes it so easy for people to claim divine intervention in ordinary, if rare, happenings -- and to be believed.

We all might save ourselves trouble and further political and religious division in this country if we would avoid attributing to God whatever can be credibly attributed to human action and reaction. The hubris of imagining that we know the mind of God in every news story makes us look foolish, especially when we encounter events that need no theological explanation to make sense.

(And here's an RNS opinion piece by someone who seems to agree with me about all of this.)

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THE FAITH COMMITMENTS OF TRUMP'S VEEP CANDIDATE

What religious connections does Trump's choice for a running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance, have? This interesting RNS story describes Vance as an adult convert to Catholicism who is married to a Hindu. There are more details in the story about how his faith commitments help to shape his political views, but let's remember that perhaps the only legitimate question about political candidates in a country that insists there will be no religious tests for candidates is this: How will your religious beliefs shape your political views and the policies you will promote? I'd love to hear Vance's answer to that question.

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THE BOOK CORNER

The Almighty Obsession, by Tom Field and Bruce Janssen. As regular readers of my blog know, I almost never write about books of fiction. I'm making an exception today to tell you about a book of historical fiction written by two Kansas City area residents. It's an engaging book of international mystery about the so-called Spear of Jesus, said to be the weapon that pierced the side of Christ as he breathed his last on the cross.

The book is set in World War II, and the Spear of Jesus relic (also called the Spear of Destiny or Spear of Longinus) is in the hands of Adolf Hitler and is said to be giving him immense power. A German-born scientist from Kansas helps lead a complicated plot to retrieve the spear and deprive Hitler and his Nazi killing machine of its power.

The book was inspired by a Kansas fossil hunter named Alan Detrich, who collects, buys and sells historical artifacts. Various religions produce relics from their histories, which get bought, sold, stolen, displayed, hidden and otherwise used and misused. Christianity is no different. And this book draws on all that to tell an intriguing story, some of which may even be true.