Why Fume over Hume?

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

I heard the comment on Sunday. I didn't think anything of it.

Then, I started looking around at the folks upset with the inference.

Geez. Really?

The comment from Fox News political commentator Brit Hume concerning the troubles of Tiger Woods was not the culturalist, mean-spirited, and naughty sentiment that many (and, yes, I'll say it - most of them on the political left) are saying that it was.

Usually, I'm not in the choir of people actively saying that proud Christianity is not welcome in America anymore, but situations such as this one making me rethink the issue.

Only in the Land of the Free, the Home of the Brave, and the original Bastion for Religious Expression can a man's honest advice as an older, proud Christian get so much flak as a nose-thumbing culturalist.

To those that are taking the position that Brit Hume meant hurt or was looking down his nose at Tiger Woods by suggesting that he should consider switching from Buddhism to Christianity in order to help get his life back in order should heed this:

C'mon, folks.

And yes, that includes you, too, Mr. Stewart, although your wit more often is served to prove a point rather than be malicious.

Duly noted, but have we lost the ability of older Americans to be able to impart on us items and actions from their experiences that helped them along the way?

Any believer that practices a religion will compassionately offer assistance to those that are suffering life challenges (self-inflicted or otherwise.) Furthermore, anyone that gives their spiritual energy and time (and, in many cases, financial resources) to a religious institution such as Christianity will carry the de facto belief that their faith is the best. At a time of need, they are going to offer the best that they can in order to help, even from afar. Hume's sentiments on Fox News Sunday this week does not lend to the cultural (or religious) elitism that many felt that it did.

Organizations such as Alcoholics Anonymous and others use the Christian faith to successfully turn around the lives of addicts everyday, using the principles of the faith in order to help previously non-practicing Christians and non-Christians alike to pry folks away from the grip of addiction. From the sounds of reports, it seems as though Mr. Woods may have an issue or two with addiction. What else would cause someone to intentionally sabotage a billion-dollar, self-made, one-man industry? There's not that much pride in the world to cause someone to be that reckless.

And that leads to the point that Hume was alluding to when he made his statement.

If Tiger Woods was simply seen as an arrogant athlete that controllably threw caution into the wind with affair after affair, it would be one thing. However, most of the reports coming out indicate that Tiger now has a life that is rapidly spiraling out of control as allegations come out about multiple affairs circulate, complete with careless, nondescript behavior that left "tiger prints" everywhere.

When the Christian soul of a man sees another in need, he offers him the one thing that he knows - from experience - that will not fail him in recovery from a major life crisis: a deeper experience with God. This is what Brit Hume - a surviving father of a son whose life troubles led to suicide a decade ago - did for a young man that was not much older than his late son was. Sadly, this well-intended public act of compassion was instead scorched in the media as a strike against Buddhism.

When the selfless intentions of a Christian man in America cannot be seen as a well-meaning invitation based off of experience in a nation where Christianity was the rock for the vast majority of our founding fathers, we are truly headed to an abyss as a nation that will only be averted through the Grace of God. Spinmeisters and talking heads alike need to give back to America a dignity that commonly understands what criticisms are in-bounds and which ones are nothing more than opportunities to make something out of nothing - acts that often create division out of good intentions.