As most students are now aware, Tiger Woods, once known for his golfing prestige, was recently revealed by a bevy of mistresses to be a philanderer of legendary scope and scale.
The golfer's messy and numerous extramarital encounters dominated the headlines for the past month. It took about that amount of time for someone with access to a cable television station, a lack of inner monologue and perhaps a kind of willful ignorance to make one of the more callous and controversial comments of his lengthy career.
I'm speaking, of course, about Brit Hume, the former anchor of one of Fox News Channel's most popular non-opinion shows, Special Report with Brit Hume. Appearing on Fox News Sunday, the long-time anchor doled out some unsolicited advice to the above-mentioned golfer in the form of spiritual guidance.
The extent to which he can recover
seems to me depends on his faith Hume said. He is said to be a Buddhist. I don't think that faith offers the kind of forgiveness and redemption that is offered by the Christian faith.
If there were any equivocation or ambiguity to Hume's train of thought, he restated his message with purpose and emphasis.
My message to Tiger would be 'Tiger
turn to the Christian faith and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world
' Hume said.
Naturally, it seemed like a foot-in-mouth moment for the aging anchor. At best, it was a misguided, albeit well-intended comment, but it was undoubtedly one that demands an apology. Hume could have appeared on The O'Reilly Factor the next day to redress his words, but instead reiterated his original position on Woods' spiritual needs.
He needs something that Christianity
especially
provides...and that is redemption and forgiveness
Hume said on the Factor. I think that Jesus Christ offers Tiger Woods something that Tiger Woods badly needs.
O'Reilly did, for his part, ask Hume if he believed what he said were proselytizing. To no one's surprise, he did not. Beyond O'Reilly's softball questions, he gave Hume the opportunity to double-down on his recruitment of Tiger Woods into the Christian fold.
Now, before this column turns into something that it is not, the point is Hume's arrogance and bald-faced subjugation, not once, but twice, of Buddhism as a religion and its practitioners as people of faith is unacceptable. He is certainly entitled to his faith, and I'm sure his beliefs are sincere.
What is also striking, but not unusual, of the ethnocentrism that has become the mode at Fox News Channel, is that Hume wasted no time portraying himself as the victim of outrage concerning his comments. When O'Reilly innocently wondered aloud what could drive those depraved PC fascists and anonymous smear merchants in Internet-land to propagate negative comments about Christianity
Hume quickly pointed out he was promoting the Christian faith, while ignoring the real issue.
The problem with Hume's gospel spreading was not that he spoke about Christianity or Jesus Christ, but rather the fact he promoted his own faith at all. It's terribly hard for one to imagine a person of any other faith, say Islam, getting away with a comment like this on Fox News Sunday.
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart was quick to point out the distinction. The show's only Muslim correspondent, Aasif Mandvi, empathized with the embattled anchor.
It drives home ... how persecuted Christians are when they speak of their faith
Mandvi said. I guess
I'm a Muslim
