Re: Oh Ye Of Little Faith
Last week, on Fox News Sunday, Brit Hume was asked as part of a round table discussion to predict the biggest sports story of 2010. Tiger Woods’ recovery, to no one’s surprise, was the consensus. To everyone’s surprise, Hume suggested that Tiger’s road to public forgiveness should be paved in the Christian faith. Here’s what he 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 for him. I think he’s lost his family, it’s not clear to me if 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 — seems to me to depend 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 offered by the Christian faith. So 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.’”
While such righteous sentiments are not necessarily out of place on Fox News Channel, the internet guarantees that they reach a far wider audience who might find Hume’s spontaneous channeling of a preacher somewhat perplexing. They might also find it completely insulting to journalistic integrity, Buddhists and the Christian faith which is not, no matter how many politicians wish it so, actually a magic wand that erases past misdeeds.
So my message to Brit would be: “Brit, turn back to Journalism 101 and you can make a recovery and be a good example to reporters who may suddenly forget that they are not ordained and speaking from a pulpit. The extent to which you will recover depends on how many people actually remember that you were once a respected political news anchor.”
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