After getting a lot of attention over the weekend on Fox & Friends for urging Tiger Woods to “be a great example to the world” and drop his Buddhism in exchange for the redemptive and healing powers of Christianity, Fox News contributor Brit Hume went on The O’Reilly Factor to defend himself. When asked by Bill O’Reilly whether he thought he was “proselytizing,” Hume said, “I don’t think so.” Here was his defense:
“He needs something that Christianity, especially, provides and gives and offers, and that is redemption and forgiveness. I was really meaning to say in those comments yesterday, I think that Jesus Christ offers Tiger Woods something that Tiger Woods badly needs … If Tiger Woods were to make a true conversion, we would know it. It would show through in his being. And he would know it, above all. And he would feel the extraordinary blessing that would be. And it would shine because he is so prominent. It would be a shining light. It would be a magnificent thing to witness.
Here’s a little refresher: The word “proselytize” means “to induce someone to convert to one’s religious faith.”
Here’s a little refresher: The word “proselytize” means “to induce someone to convert to one’s religious faith.”
O’Reilly, as you can see, avoids discussing the qualitative comparisons between Buddhism and Christianity that these statements obviously imply. Instead he asks sympathetically why Hume thinks he got so much negative feedback from people who didn’t believe as Hume did, because, hey, it’s more fun to attack people for criticizing your own religion than it is to defend slights you made against another, right?
