iCitizenForum

Tiger Woods and choosing the right club for redemption

The First Amendment offers five guaranteed freedoms, and newscaster Brit Hume managed to bring three into play with recent comments he made about the life of Tiger Woods.

By this time, we all are familiar with Tiger’s tale. And to be honest, within a few days of Tiger driving his life out of bounds, I held no interest in him or the bizarre events that led to what will probably be a temporary demise of his golf career. The demise of his personal life is permanent.

So, just when you think a story has run its cycle, up steps Hume to exercise his freedom of speech, his freedom of the press and his freedom of religion — that is, if you are a Christian.

It’s Hume’s opinion that Tiger cannot adequately deal with his self-inflicted woes unless he converts to Christianity, in which as Hume puts it, true redemption comes with proper seeking of forgiveness.

In his comments made during a national news program interview, Hume managed to “diss” Tiger’s faith — or at least what Tiger claims to be his faith — Buddhism.

How Hume came to his conclusions about Woods or why he decided to air them remains a matter of speculation.

Spinners on the “right” have used the negative reaction to Hume’s sermon as an example of a bias against Christians — citing Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee and Sean Hannity (the Fox trinity) as examples of those facing bias.

I am a practicing Roman Catholic, and “practicing” in the truest sense, because most days I am not very good at it. I have no problems with Christians. But no matter what Hume’s reasoning for preaching about Tiger’s salvation, when I look around the world today, I often wonder whether we need freedom “from” religion rather than freedom “of” religion.

And Hume might want to take a closer look at the foundational principles of Buddhism.

• Buddhists, like Christians, seek freedom from suffering.
• Buddhists, like Christians, have a “Golden Rule,” worded slightly differently than the Christian version, called the principle of reciprocity: “ . . . a state that is not pleasing or delightful to me, how could I inflict that upon another?" or “Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.”
• At the core of Buddhism is wisdom and enlightenment, certainly something Tiger could benefit from now.
• And perhaps most applicable to Woods is one of Buddhism’s “Four Noble Truths,” called “Samudaya,” the cause for suffering — and that cause is the need to have and control things. Sound like any pro golfer you know?

Anyone who watches Tiger play golf competitively knows that he can reach “a higher place” on the course like no other player who ever teed it up.

I think he is capable of reaching that same higher place in his personal life, too. And he doesn’t need Brit Hume caddying for him.

Resources:

• http://www.religioustolerance.org/buddhism1.htm
• http://www.hsuyun.org/chan/en/features/...
• http://content.usatoday.com/communities/Religion/...
• http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/01/...
• http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/...
• http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/08/...