[Buddha-l] Time to change religions?

[Richard Hayes]

Dear denizens,

I'll be the first to confess I never watch Fox News. I just can't take all that fair and balanced reporting. I much prefer the prejudiced and skewed reporting on places like NPR and PBS. Last night as I was getting my daily fix of Amy Goodman, I heard a sound clip from Brit Hume, a senior political analyst for Fox News. It refers to Tiger Woods, an alleged golf player who was reportedly involved in a sex scandal. (I doubt many buddha-l people follow golf, so I assume none of you know who Tiger Woods are.) Here is what Brit Hume (probably no relation to David) said on a Fox News television broadcast on Sunday night:

"The Tiger Woods that emerges once the news value dies out of this scandal, the extent to which he can recover, it seems to me, depends on his faith. He’s 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 your faith---turn to the Christian faith, and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world.'"
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/7/headlines#11

What Brit Hume completely overlooks is that Christianity provides no practices effective at liberating people from playing golf. So my advice would be. "Tiger, remain a Buddhist. Only this time, try actually following the precepts. Then maybe in the next life you'll be reborn as a human being instead of a tiger."

Always ready to give advice to golfers and other damaged people, I remain
Richard P. Hayes (the P stands for Putter)