Video
Twitter
Facebook
RSS Feed
In defense of Brit Hume
By Daniel Darling
Pastor, Gages Lake Bible Church
Two years ago I was in the market for a new car. Actually my wife was in the market for a new car and I, the dutiful husband, willingly acquiesced to the purchase of a sleek, new, silver Chrysler Town and Country minivan. We began our search online, narrowing our options to a handful of wife-approved choices. Then we visited a few dealerships, test drove the vans, and talked shop with the sales people. Eventually we narrowed our choice to two vans at two separate dealerships. Both were similar in features and price.
We visited the first, anxious to be wowed by a salesmen, ready to bicker and bargain and come away feeling good about a new car. But we were underwhelmed by the salesman. When we asked to see the vehicle, he reluctantly shuffled to the back of the lot, keys in hand. Fifteen minutes later, he shuffled back, without the car. The battery was dead. They had to jump it. We didn't patronize that dealership with our sale. We went to the next dealership with our bar set much lower. But this time we met a salesman anxious to sell a car. He took us on a test drive in his clean, new minivan with a very fresh battery. It was obvious that he knew his Chrysler Town and Country minivans and was proud of their design. After a few hours of negotiating, we made that guy happy by giving him a sale. But he made us happy by giving us a minivan we have used and enjoyed to this day.
He believed in his product and couldn't help but sell me on it. Which surprisingly brings me to Fox News anchor-turned-pundit, Brit Hume, whose seemingly inartful comments about his faith and Tiger Woods have created a predictable media firestorm. You won't be surprised that an evangelical pastor would rise to the defense of a fellow believer, though I'm less Fox News and more Morning Joe. But you will be surprised to know that my defense of Mr. Hume isn't based on the usual tired conservative talking points.
We often whine about a liberal media (unless we want the interview with Matt Lauer). We often grouse about being an oppressed minority (unless we're flexing our muscle at election time). We often belly-ache about how poorly conservative politicians are treated (how dare you report of their "hikes along the Appalachian trail?).
No, my defense is based on a simple, old-fashioned, American notion. It's the idea that in this country, you have the right to believe whatever you want to believe. Religious liberty is at the heart of the American Experiment.
Sure, true Christianity offers Jesus Christ as the only path to forgiveness, redemption, and peace with God. That does come off shockingly intolerant, which is why Brit Hume has come under such withering attack. But he has a right to believe it and speak it and, yes, sell it.
I have no doubt Buddhists believe their path is the only right one. As do Muslims and Jews and Sikhs, and every other religious group. I'm sure they want to sell their religion and hope to win converts. Converts, even from other religions, shudder the thought!
I'm sure they think Brit Hume and every other evangelical is misguided. And yet, even thought I disagree, I'd give my life for their right to believe that. Most if not all evangelicals would do the same.
To believe something so strongly is the essence of faith. We take our beliefs seriously. If only Brit Hume would say, "My faith isn't any better than yours. You do it your way and I'll do it my way," he'd win back slaps from the chattering classes.
Yet if the Chrysler salesman felt that way about his Town and Country minivans, how many would he sell? He wouldn't have gotten my money and I suspect he'd get few others. He'd be out of a job in a hurry.
Instead, he believed his van was better than the others, better than Toyota and Nissan and Chevy and Ford. He told me in seventeen different ways how inferior those other brands were.
We expect such devotion from the people who sell us cars and houses and furniture and cell phones. So why the angst over people of faith, who feel deep down that they have discovered the truth?
And so what if they push it on others. Don't we do that about those things we hold dearly? I've experienced nothing but joy from my minivan in these two years and guess what? I'm on the street telling my friends and neighbors how they need to buy a Town and Country.
Of course the Bible Mr. Hume reads encourages us to share our faith with humility and not arrogance, by demonstrations of compassion and words of hope. I believe he did that.
Because Brit Hume wants others to experience the same forgiveness, redemption, and peace with God that he found in Christianity.
I really don't think that's a crime. I think it's essentially American.
Daniel Darling is senior pastor of Gages Lake Bible Church in the northwest suburbs of Chicago and is the author of "Teen People of the Bible" by New Hope Publishers.
By Daniel Darling |
January 8, 2010; 11:22 AM ET
Save & Share:
Previous: Next for bishops: immigration reform |
Next: Politics of health care 'reform' can make you sick
Posted by: RonGeatz | January 12, 2010 5:22 PM
Report Offensive Comment
Actually Brit Hume does have the right to say whatever he wants-that's the whole point. If you have any doubts about that sit down and read the constitution. Also be aware that 27 of the 56 signers of The Declaration of Independence were seminary graduates. Mr. Hume showed an enormous amount of courage in sharing the fact that no matter what religion you are you can be ASSURED of going to heaven if you'll just stop and pray the following to God and mean it.
-Christ died for all of my sins past, present and future and paid for them with His blood (John 3:16)
-good works won't get me there (Ephesians 2:8-9)
-now that I'm saved I can never lose my salvation (John 10:28-29)
Posted by: energybill | January 11, 2010 8:34 AM
Report Offensive Comment
dz4law, I'm really not sure, AS A PRACTICING CATHOLIC, how you could possibly have been offended by what Mr. Hume said. On the contrary, as a practicing Catholic, I whole-heartedly support Mr. Hume's comments. He is doing, no matter what the venue, what his faith and his Lord tells him to do. Did you miss that day in CCD/RCIA? Know your faith, my friend.
Posted by: capryor-1 | January 11, 2010 8:03 AM
Report Offensive Comment
Mr. Hume has a right in this country of free speech to say anything he wants, except yell "fire" in a crowed theater or or other crowded place. What he does not have, is the right to use the public airways to profess his beliefs without allowing anyone who opposes (or has a different viewpoint) to use the same venue by the same company to challenge or give a view in opposition. "Fair and Balanced" is what Fox touts but in reality never comes close to that. As a Christian and a practicing Catholic I am appalled at his statements, his insensitivity to Mr. Woods personal problems and his extra-ordinary ignorance in inserting himself into this man's life without being asked, or in the alternative without making his viewpoint known in a private manner. This is not an empathetic manner of practicing that charity inherent to one's faith, but rather self rightousness gone amuck. And by the way Pastor Dan your choice of words in your little car recitation (shuffling..) purveys, as innocent as it may be, an unholy image of that salesman.
dz4law
Posted by: dz4law | January 10, 2010 2:01 PM
Report Offensive Comment
Gee, Pastor:
What a surprise that you should think this way. And this paper gave you space, why?
Posted by: martha6 | January 10, 2010 2:19 AM
Report Offensive Comment
Wonder what advice Hume would offer a pedophile Christian priest. Or is one already forgiven and can rape altar boys just because he is already a Christian.
Christianity is the worship of a three-in-one god, born of a virgin that he impregnated himself, who then sacrificed himself on the cross, to himself, to spare his own creation from his own wrath.
So apt that the humanly insane would worship the divinely insane!
Hey Pastor, no one said it was a crime. It is however a a despicable appeal to superstition
Posted by: HumanSimpleton | January 9, 2010 9:30 PM
Report Offensive Comment
People have the right to believe in any fairytail they want, just don't expose me to those idiotic ideas.
Posted by: kenk3 | January 9, 2010 7:00 PM
Report Offensive Comment
The comments to this entry are closed.
First off, are you really comparing prosletyzing a religion with selling cars, Rev. Darling? How insulting for people of faith. And don't assume that everyone thinks his religion is the only "right one." I don't. It's right for me. Others' religion is none of my business. But I guess that's why I am not an evangelical. Selling religion, like a used car, offends me. Brit Hume is free to sell his religion... but NOT in his role as a journalist. His lecturing a sports star on the superiority of his own Christianity over another's Buddhism is one of the most shocking and offensive acts I've seen by a "professional journalist" in some time.