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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, 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."
Here Bill O'Reilly ask him the obvious question (which is good) but totally fails to follow up on his evasive answer (not so good):
O'Reilly: Was that proselytizing?
Hume: I don't think so, I mean... Look, Tiger Woods is someone I've always rooted for, as a golfer and as a man. I've greatly admired him over the years, and I've always said to people that it was the content of his character that made him, beyond his extraordinary golf skills, so admirable. Now we know that the content of the character was not what we thought it was. (...) I think that Jesus Christ offers Tiger Woods something that I think Tiger Woods badly needs.
So, look, like, he may say that he doesn't think so, but... Look, he clearly was. And he most likely went to Church the following Sunday and was praised by his fellow congregants for being a good soldier of Christ, spreading the gospel, etc. etc.
Hume apparently also received emails saying he was a pompous jerk for belittling the Buddhist faith.
O'Reilly: What do you think drives the negative comments about Christianity?
Hume: It has always been a puzzling thing to me. The Bible even speaks of it: You speak the name of Jesus Christ, and all hell breaks loose. It is explosive. I didn't even say the name in that way. I simply spoke of the Christian faith, but that was enough to trigger this reaction. It triggers a very powerful reaction in people who do not share the faith, and who do not believe in it. Always have.
Okay, so he finds it very puzzling that when you say that Buddhism cannot offer what Christianity can, and that Tiger Woods should turn to it to get what he badly needs, then Buddhist take it in a bad way? Hume, you twit, you were glorifying Christ on TV, and there is no getting away with it. Imagine for a moment a Buddhist saying about a Christian golfer who slept around that Christianity may call such behavior a sin, but if he turns to Buddhism, then he wouldn't need forgiveness in the first place, because sleeping around is not a sin, because there are no sins in Buddhism, and therefore Buddha is someone this golfer badly needs. This would not upset a multitude of Christians? Oh yes it would, in a bad way. I wouldn't be surprised if it lead to violent repercussions against Buddhist temples in America.
Bunch of pathetic hypocrites.
So, anyone here with a different perspective? Anyone who thinks Hume's comments were in any way appropriate?
By the way, I'm with Bjørk on Buddhism: "Buddhists say we come back as animals and they refer to them as lesser beings. Well, animals aren't lesser beings, they're just like us. So I say fuck the Buddhists."
The best of all is that even within christian "philosophy" that was a whole load of Bullshit! Forgiveness is God's job. So if Tiger would turn into a christian, that doesn't mean forgiveness for him. In Evangelical mythticism, God forgives, and it is not on us to decide. In true christianity (protestant of cause) he would have already been forgiven, since Jesus died on the cross just to do that - forgiveness for all our sins...
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Heh, nice quote on Buddhism. I consistently have to point out to "Buddhism apologists" that what they are usually referring to is an Americanized philosophy based on Zen Buddhism, and that this (admittedly intriguing) philosophy has little in common with Buddhism as practiced in most of the world. Most sects are just your typical everyday religion, with doctrines and dogmas and superstitions and intolerances.
ReplyDeleteI mean, granted, it gets some points because the central mythology of the religion isn't a gruesome blood sacrifice. But it isn't the anti-dogma Zen koan-quoting philosophy many people in America think it is.
What made this hit home for me was a news photo of thousands of Buddhist monks in Thailand protesting against alcohol-related corporations being allowed to trade on the stock market. Not a very Zen-like activity, is it?