Hume can’t say that!

As you can imagine, lots of people have their knickers in a twist over Brit Hume’s recent advice to Tiger Woods that he convert to Christianity. GetReligion’s Mollie Ziegler takes a look at the media’s response and offers some commentary of her own.

Now, I think there are some excellent journalistic avenues to explore with this controversy, should media outlets choose to do so. Let’s hear more from some Buddhists and Christians and others about doctrinal tenets at play. I mean, if people don’t even know the role of forgiveness in Christianity, I’m not hoping that general Buddhist literacy is better. This is a great hook for deeper exploration of both religions.

But there are other interesting issues to explore, too. Why is it socially acceptable to advise Woods on what he should or shouldn’t do to manage his public relations problem, but not what he should do to repair his family or spiritual health? Or why is it that we have such trouble engaging religion in the public square? Is there a double standard between public discussion of religious views? Is it OK for pundits to talk about religious views so long as they don’t actually believe their views are true?