Tiger Woods, Brit Hume, and Religion

I don’t care what anyone says. To publicly state that someone else’s religion/spiritual beliefs are inadequate and that they should consider yours instead is just arrogant [“Brit Hume Confuses Faith and Religion on Tiger Woods,” usnews.com]. What exactly gives anyone the right to judge? The really funny thing about his “opinion” is that he criticizes one of the few (if only) religions that truly does not discriminate against or judge other religions. Yes, everyone is entitled to his/her opinion. Unfortunately, not everyone is smart enough to know when and where to voice those opinions. Brit Hume [was] being completely and totally disrespectful.

Comment by Haiden of IL

Buddhists don’t believe in the existence of “God.” So if Tiger is Buddhist, there is no God for him to ask forgiveness from. Buddhism teaches us that our actions affect ourselves and those around us. Tiger needs to forgive himself, and then take the right actions to improve his life and the lives of those he hurt.

Comment by Ian of WA

If he prepared these comments in advance, then [Brit Hume] said what he meant to say. The real problem, as Mary Kate Cary indicates, is that he dissed another faith en route to suggesting turning to God. In the first place, it’s difficult to discern where news and opinion divide on Fox, and this doesn’t help. At Fox, the separation between religion and politics just got more blurred. I’m not comfortable with a political animal who believes in the superiority of his particular religion.

Comment by Richard of AZ

I’m not sure it’s correct to say he “dissed” another faith. He was just stating his understanding—which I believe is correct—that Buddhism doesn’t offer absolute forgiveness and redemption. There is no balancing of good works versus bad acts for those who are Bible-believing Christians. If you believe and accept God’s forgiveness through Christ’s sacrifice, you are saved. A lot of people don’t like hearing about the Christian faith because it talks about man’s sinful nature and how everyone needs forgiveness and redemption. But Tiger is a prime example of human fallibility. Brit was just expressing his view of how Tiger—and all of us—should deal with that fact.

Comment by Anna Reiter of CA

Brit says, “He needs the kind of forgiveness and redemption that only faith in God offers.” It seems to me that the only way that Tiger Woods could be forgiven by Brit Hume is by turning to God. I doubt that Tiger’s wife and children share that feeling. Brit Hume and other believers reduce everything to their Christian faith. It’s up to the people he hurt to decide whether he will be forgiven. This has nothing to do with God.

Comment by Ron M. of NY

I believe the author here, though well intentioned, has missed the entire point of the comment Hume made. The claims of Buddhism and Christianity about the nature of forgiveness, truth, life, value, and otherwise are not equivocal. Hume is noting that the ideological framework of Woods’s current stated worldview does not provide him with the ideological resources to acquire what, by his own words, he seems to be seeking. The mistake everyone seems to make in this debate is to assume that all religions are the same. The adherents of Buddhism and Christianity would readily note differences between the two systems and would likely be offended by the suggestion that they are indistinguishable from one another. In reality, the belief that all religions are the same is, in itself, a religious belief, and one that shouldn’t be imported to people who claim a different belief.

Comment by Nick of WI

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