Brit Hume, who is retiring from the anchor desk to pursue other interests, spoke candidly on Fox News Sunday (01-03-2010) about Tiger Woods’ serial adultery.
Hume Said,
"Tiger Woods will recover as a golfer. Whether he can recover as a person I think is a very open question and it’s a tragic situation. I think he’s lost his family. It’s not clear to me whether he’ll be able to have a relationship with his children. But the Tiger Woods that emerges once the news value dies out of this scandal- the extent to which he can recover it seems to me depends on his faith. He’s said to be a Buddhist. I don’t think that faith offers the kind of forgiveness and redemption that is offerred by the Christian faith. So my message to Tiger would be: Tiger, turn to faith, turn to the Christian faith, and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world."
Hume was lambasted by The Young Turks, and Keith Olberman. Olberman mis-characterized Hume’s statment, saying, "Being Christian is the best religion for adulterers because you can be forgiven" and went on to compare Christianity to jihadism.
A man named Dan Savage, author of the blog what would Jesus do if he were straight- argued that smart people of faith don’t share their faith in the media or the public square. But there he was advocated his particularly religious ideology.
Hosts on the talk radio show The Young Turks said, "Now it turns out he (Brit Hume) is not just conservative- he’s a little nuts- he’s evangelical, he’s prosyletizing, and he’s talking about our great friend in America, Tiger Woods." They went on to assert, "What he’s saying is that you can go out and mess around as much as you want and you can come back in and be forgiven."
All of Hume’s detractors are protesting what they call the hypocrisy of his expression of Christian faith. They are angry that he would dare testify to that faith on his news program.
While arguing that Hume’s discussion of faith has no place in the public square, the critics are themselves discussing faith in the public square- complete with scathing criticism not only of Hume, but of Christianity itself.
For most of the radically left media, only Christianity and its adherents are fair game- particularly if those adherents are orthodox or conservative in their theology and practice of faith.
Saying that Buddhism doesn’t offer the kind of forgiveness and redemption that Christianity does is anathema to them- but ridiculing Christians and Christianity in the most dishonest ways is applauded.
The real story here is not the so-called hypocrisy of Brit Hume, but rather the oppressive double standards the media elites hold Christians to.
The real hypocrit here is not Brit Hume and his inherent criticism of Buddhism in an invitation to Christian faith, but rather the talk show pundits that condemn him while in the cruelest ways attacking the foundational tenets of Christian faith, religious freedom, and the right to free speech.
For what it’s worth, Brit Hume is right. Tiger Woods needs Jesus now more than ever.
