Brit Hume Expresses View on Tiger Woods

On "Fox News Sunday" yesterday, Fox anchor Brit Hume suggested that Tiger Woods should trade his Buddhist faith for Christianity if he wants to make a personal comback. When host Chris Wallace asked the show's roundtable to predict the biggest sports story of 2010, 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 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.'"

After a moment of awkward silence, fellow panelist Bill Kristol quipped, "Well, Brit's concerned about Tiger's soul, which is admirable, but I just made a more straightforward sports prediction, which was that he'll come back and win the Masters."

Very interesting. I had that show on yesterday, but I was only remotely paying attention to it as I cleaned my kitchen. I hate that I missed it.

Fox News, in spite of it's conservative view point, can be kinda hard towards anybody who makes a politically incorrect comment about something that somehow exalts Christianity over another religion. Remember the last time you saw Franklin Graham on Fox News? Probably not. He used to be a regular on there until he made a comment a few years ago that said Islam was a fundamentally evil religion. People got pretty upset at that comment. Billy Graham even offered a soft public rebuke to Franklin on that comment, saying he disagreed with it. To my knowledge, he's not been back since his controversial remark. Granted, Brit Hume is actually employed by Fox, whereas Graham was just a guest. But I wouldn't be surprised if he's not at least getting lectured off to the side for his comment.

Just google Brit Hume Tiger Woods and you can view his comment.

Dear brothers & sisters,
What I am about to say has been on my heart for a few weeks now. This maynot be directly tied to this thread; although, I think, it is somewhat tied indirectly concerning this man Tiger Woods.
A few weeks ago, I was on another "Christian" website where I came across a sermon titled, "The Fall Of Tiger Woods." As my eyes fell across this title, I was immediately grieved, & somewhat angered in my spirit. I didn't even check out the sermon itself; for, it seemed to me at the time, that the title said enough. I couldn't believe that that particular site could even let someone upload that sermon with a title like that.
Anyway, what I'm trying to get at is this:
I don't think it's very godly to criticize an unbeliever for their sins when that person doesn't know any better. I must confess, to my shame, I at times have done these things in my past; and, I know type these words in tears, in deep regret, knowing that I have done so. Who is it that can help anyone live a Godly life, but God Himself... I cannot boast about anything that God has so graciously done in my life.. I am but a worm. God help me.
This man, Tiger Woods, was he not brought up by his Dad to be the best golfer in the world? To be made, from his birth, somewhat of a "golf machine?" Was, he not brought into the world with such a purpose, purposed by his parents, as this? As far as I know, he was. I do not say this to offend his family. I, myself, was brought up, since birth, to play professional hockey....my own dad had goals & dreams for me to be thus. He, my dad, did what he thought was right. My own dad never believed in the Lord, & still doesn't, as of yet, to this day.
So, I don't think it's wise, & I am not saying this has happened here on SI, to criticize & slander a man such as this Tiger Woods. God help him! Jesus died for him too!
Maybe, I pray, just maybe, this precious site can be one of the few in this wretched, sin-abounding world, where such grace & love can be displayed towards this man Tiger, that if he ever were to come across this site, he would see the love of God displayed, give his life to Christ Jesus, & be made a mighty vessel of honour fit for God's purpose.
May God be glorified in all our lives. I hope this offends none here; for, if what I said has, please know it was never my intention. I must get ready for work now. Thankyou for your precious time.
Please pray for me,
Richie

The Lord bless you "Thingsabove"
I, myself, believe that if he knew that this would've blown up in his face as it did, he probably would've thought twice.... but, who really knows.... that, of course, didn't happen.
Many don't believe that their sin will find them out; but, however, there is a verse in the book of Numbers that says the opposite, Nu 32:23.
As far as I know, Tiger, was also introduced to his wife at a party in a Las Vegas hotel.
We must speak the Truth, but do it in love; this is biblical, and Spirit led.
Last night while at work, this came to me:
Suppose, I had a big estate; and, on that estate their was a grand, fruit tree. Now, for years I was amazed at the size and display of this fruit tree, but it still hadn't beared any fruit. I marvelled at it because to my eye it looked wonderful. Man, I couldn't wait for it to bear fruit. It looked to me that it was a pear tree for years. I was anticipating some nice, plump pears to appear soon. After awhile longer when I gazed upon it again for the hundreth time or so, I noticed, from a distance, that it had finally beared fruit.... so, I ran with excitement up to it, & to my amazement, it didn't bear any pears at all. I looked.... there were apples everywhere! I hate apples, I thought to myself! And then I started criticizing the tree. Stupid, stupid pear tree, I said. Why did you bear pears and not apples?!
Now, who's stupid? Of course, it is I. It was an apple tree all along. It couldn't help but bear apples.
Now, this came to me last night. I believe it was a word addressed to me to show me how foolish it is for me to criticize an unbeliever.
I remember when I was a young lad doing all kinds of stupid things; and after awhile, I hated doing those things. I didn't know how to stop. I didn't know what was wrong with me, and when I searched for answers in the world, no-one could give me any reasonable answer until the Holy Scriptures were introduced to me.
I praise the Lord!
"Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord God: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?"- Ezekiel 18:23
Please pray for me
Thankyou for your precious time
Richie

Krispy said:
"Of course Islam is an evil religion. So is anything that is against God no matter how subtle."

Islam is an evil religion because Muslims are not worshipping the true God.

There are quotes in the Quaran about killing the infidels. Their goal is to convert the world to Islam by any means neccessary.

How many more terrorists acts will it take before our churches, government, and news media call Islam exactly what it is, "an evil religion"?

Mike

People keep saying FoxNews is conservative...but I beg to differ.

There have been times in the past when I could not sleep at night so I would come to the computer and check a few things, like the news, SI, etc. Several times I have seen ads on the FoxNews page that were pornographic but they were gone my morning. Conservative? By whose standards? Because of it I have lost my respect for FoxNews...

On the other hand what else can one expect from worldly people? For them sin only become so when it inconveniences them.

ginnyrose

They are only conservative politcally, though, not entirely. As a general rule of thumb they are.

Hi sister Ginnyrose...

Several times I have seen ads on the FoxNews page that were pornographic but they were gone my morning. Conservative? By whose standards? Because of it I have lost my respect for FoxNews...

If I remember correctly, there were some issues with questionable advertising here on SermonIndex a few years ago. Sometimes, such advertising is often reflective of factors other than the intent of the website itself. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area (where Satan seems to have his throne), but I sometimes visit websites that are local to Virginia, Texas, Pennsylvania and Tennessee (where our family lives). Ironically, we still see advertisements for companies that are local to the San Francisco Bay Area even in those out-of-state locations. Such advertisements are reflective to the IP location or computer user rather than the area where the website is located.

Not to defend FoxNews (or attack them either), but is it possible that some of their advertisements are handled by a third party?

Of course, FoxNews is certainly not a Christian or religious news organization. They lean conservative or libertarian (contrasted with the apparent liberal leanings of other stations). I suppose that it might help if we remember to keep them in such a context (which I am sure is reflective of the way that many of us do). Still, it might be helpful to give them the benefit of the doubt. I remember hating to see Mormon and New Age advertisements on SermonIndex (controlled by GoogleAds), but it didn't reflect SermonIndex, Greg or the moderators.

Fox News is the only major news network that you are going to hear the conservative side of the news. You can watch any of the other major news networks and you are going to get the liberal point of view. Although Fox news is far from being perfect, I thank God that they are giving us the apposing view to a corrupt administration that is now in power. Liberalism and humanism with it's anti God agenda of abortion and perversion (homosexuality) is destroying this nation.

Politics is not the answere to this nation's problems. Only God can save this nation, and if there is not another Great awakening in this country, we will see the judgements of God come down, and America will fall.

It is vital for the survival of this nation that we elect men of integrity in positions of leadership, and that we pray, repent, and intercede for our country.

Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance. (Psalm 33:12).

When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn. (Proverbs 29:2).

"Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people"
(Proverbs 14:34).

Mike

MSNBC's Shuster: Brit Hume 'Denigrated' Christianity with Tiger Woods Comment
By: Kyle Drennen
January 04, 2010 16:48 ET

During the 3PM ET hour of live coverage on MSNBC, anchor David Shuster claimed that Fox News political analyst Brit Hume "denigrated Christianity" when suggesting that scandal-ridden golfer Tiger Woods convert to the faith.

Shuster made the comments while discussing the issue with MSNBC political analyst Pat Buchanan, asking: "Doesn’t it also denigrate Christianity when you do that on a Sunday political talk show? This isn’t church, this isn’t some sort of holy setting, this is a political talk show....Doesn’t that minimize the significance of Christianity, when you bring a discussion of Christianity into a conversation about politics?"

Buchanan replied: "He’s not denigrating Christianity....A lot of us feel that there ought to be more discussion of religion in politics and religious beliefs and what’s moral and right and wrong." Shuster pressed him: "And you don’t think this diminishes Christianity in any way?" Buchanan shot back: "What do you think, the religion’s dropped a peg or two now?" Shuster sarcastically responded: "I do think it diminishes the discussion of Christianity....This wasn’t the ‘700 Club,’ this wasn’t ‘Theocracy Today.’"

Shuster’s fellow anchor, Tamron Hall, not only attacked Hume, but Christianity as well as she remarked to Buchanan: "Pat, do we need to run down the list, just in the past year, of so-called Christian politicians who’ve been accused, or in many case flat-out had to admit because they were backed up against the wall, that they had affairs and other discretions?....is it just not good advice to do something like this, whether you’re Brit Hume or anyone, to hide behind a religion that certainly can be thrown right back at you."

Shuster later concluded the discussion by proclaiming: "...people turn to TV to get informed opinions about politics and not uninformed opinions about religion." Hall added: "David, we can skip church for the next two months after that segment."

Here is a transcript of the exchange:

SHUSTER: That comment has prompted a firestorm of criticism. And here to discuss the latest remarkable turn in our nation’s discussion about Tiger Woods, Pat Buchanan is an MSNBC political analyst, two time former candidate for president. Pat, is it ever, ever a wise idea for a political analyst to essentially anoint themselves somebody’s spiritual adviser, denigrate that person’s religion, and do so on a Sunday political talk show?

PAT BUCHANAN: Well, I’m a – consider myself a friend of Brit Hume and I think he was being candid and honest. And I don’t know what the Buddhist religion is, but there’s no doubt that Christianity is a religion of mercy and forgiveness and it’s conditional, of course, upon people altering their life and being sorry for what they’ve done. And I’m not a spiritual adviser to Tiger Woods, but-

SHUSTER: But would you ever volunteer that without being asked, I mean, it just seems-

BUCHANAN: No, well, it’s not done, quite frankly, religion in that terms isn’t really discussed. But I don’t – I’m not bothered by Brit Hume doing that. I think he means well, I just heard that for the first time, basically, I’ve read the transcript, and he was just sort of giving some kind of personal – his personal thoughts on it. I don’t really have a problem with Brit doing that, quite frankly.

TAMRON HALL: Pat, do we need to run down the list, just in the past year, of so-called Christian politicians who’ve been accused, or in many case flat-out had to admit because they were backed up against the wall, that they had affairs and other discretions? I mean, to the heart of what David is saying, if this is just about religion, all are flawed. Isn’t that what the Christian Bible says?

BUCHANAN: Well sure, all are flawed and all have failings, there’s no doubt about it. And I don’t think Brit was saying-

HALL: ‘And Judge not lest ye be judged.’ I mean, I can roll them all down, but is it just not good advice to do something like this, whether you’re Brit Hume or anyone, to hide behind a religion that certainly can be thrown right back at you.

BUCHANAN: Well first – well, I don’t think he was saying hide behind it. And I don’t think he was saying all Christians are not flawed and no Christian sins. I think what he was saying is religion is a – I mean, Christianity is a religion of mercy and forgiveness but it is not unconditional, things are required-

SHUSTER: But Pat, he was denigrating Buddhism in the process. And people who are Buddhist say that’s simply not true. I mean, look, here’s a statement from somebody who’s a Buddhist-

BUCHANAN: There are not a lot of Buddhists watching Fox, maybe.

SHUSTER: Right, well that may be true, but here’s the reaction from one of the Buddhist bloggers today. ‘Could Hume get away with saying something like this about Jewish people or the Muslim faith? You betcha he couldn’t. Why should he be able to skate away Scott free when speaking about Buddhists?’

BUCHANAN: I don’t agree. Let me say, suppose you said certain things about the Muslim faith and saying that it tends to be, in a lot of areas, very intolerant of other Christ – of other religions. And it does. I don’t know the Buddhist faith, as I said, but I think this is Brit Hume’s view of it. I don’t know if he’s right or wrong about it. The Shinto religion’s a little tough on guys that had their failings, as you know, in Japan, in places like that.

SHUSTER: But why volunteer this? Why go there? Why – I mean, look, we all respect Brit’s view, the faith works for him, it work’s for you, my faith works for me. But why go on a political show and anoint yourself the adviser to a celebrity in trouble and say ‘my faith is the right one, his is a failure for him’?

BUCHANAN: Because I think that’s his view. And do we really want political correctness or do you want Brit Hume to tell, when you ask him, what he thinks?

SHUSTER: Right, but-

BUCHANAN: He doesn’t think Buddhism-

SHUSTER: But doesn’t it also denigrate Christianity when you do that on a Sunday political talk show. This isn’t church, this isn’t some sort of holy setting, this is a political talk show.

BUCHANAN: He’s not denigrating Christianity. He’s saying it’s a religion-

SHUSTER: By talking about it on a Sunday political talk show. Doesn’t that minimize the significance of Christianity, when you bring a discussion of Christianity into a conversation about politics?

BUCHANAN: A lot of us feel that there ought to be more discussion of religion in politics and religious beliefs and what’s moral and right and wrong.

SHUSTER: And you don’t think this diminishes Christianity in any way?

BUCHANAN: No.

SHUSTER: Wow. Okay.

BUCHANAN: What do you think, the religion’s dropped a peg or two now?

SHUSTER: No.

BUCHANAN: Because of a comment-

SHUSTER: I do think it diminishes the discussion of Christianity. My Christian friends have said as much, that it diminishes the discussion of Christianity and faith when you have a conversation out-of-the-blue on a political talk show. This wasn’t the ‘700 Club,’ this wasn’t ‘Theocracy Today.’

—Kyle Drennen is a news analyst at the Media Research Center.

Hi Frank...

Rupart Murdoch, owner of Fox News is a thououghly disreputable character. His biggest generator of income, prior to purchasing Fox News was "The Sun," newspaper, and I use the word newspaper very lighty. It is a poronograhic rag that is the best selling daily in Britian. Every day they have a different topless girl, commonly known in Britain as the "Page three girs." [b]It is a filthy rag and reflects the man.[/b]

ts all very sad and is an indication of the people who defend this that their philosophy overides their Christianity, the world , through Fox News, has truly invaded much of the church.

As for the purpose of the thread: I didn't see Brit Hume make those comments (because I have seldom watched FoxNews), but I am thankful for what he said as included in the initial post.

Hi Frank...

Perhaps this defence of Fox News is a perfect example of the church mixing with the world.

Maybe I missed something: Who is defending Fox News?