A few days back conservative commentator Brit Hume of Fox News (btw, are there conservative commentators on any other news networks?) had the crass arrogance to offer his unsolicited advice to Tiger Woods over his current plethora of problems. His advice – Tiger needs to convert from Buddhism to Christianity because of the elements of redemption and forgiveness that Christianity offers.
I am sure that Christianity has offered forgiveness and redemption to many practicing Christians. To mention a few -
- Christian inquisitors in the middle ages who carried out their campaign of torture and murder in the name of Christ under the banner of redemption and forgiveness.
- Christian invaders who rendered extinct indigenous tribes in North America and Australia.
- Hitler who surely must have gassed millions while being assured of Christian forgiveness .
- Pedophile catholic priests in North America preying on vulnerable young boys.
All the above mentioned souls are “forgiven” and “redeemed” because of their Christian faith.
Moral learnt: You can be as criminal and anti-social as you want to be as long as you belong to the Christian faith. (Nice going, Brit).
I do not blame zealots like Hume completely. After all, it is not their fault that their understanding of higher philosophical concepts is limited. Consider a pagan African tribe where the son of the chief was beheaded to please the tribal God Eladrereiver. Think that is silly and inhumane? Christianity too is based upon a similar pagan belief in human sacrifice. Just replace the African tribal Chief’s son with Christ and the God Eladrereiver with Jehovah. The way to redemption in Christianity is through the blood sacrifice of Christ to appease the God Jehovah. Can such simplistic pagan beliefs lead to improvement of one’s self?
Other conservative news commentators jumped into the fray quickly to defend Hume’s stance. Hume’s cheerleader in chief – Ann Coulter – opined disparagingly in her weekly column that Buddhist faith is about making everyone a God. Newsflash, Ann, Honey! Buddhism is also about self control and moderation, something that many Christians would do well to incorporate. Why don’t you and Hume try it out? In the process of discovering your inner “God” you may actually start taking sensible positions on many issues (something that I would count as a miracle akin to virgin birth)
