Comments by Fox news anchor turned analyst Brit Hume’s urging golfer Tiger Woods to embrace Christianity because it offers forgiveness and redemption have drawn a lot of chatter on the Internet. I was not surprised to find over a thousand comments on a seemingly unrelated set of pictures showing actor Richard Gere being blessed by the Dalai Lama during a recent teaching in Bodh Gaya. A lot of the comments on the Huffington Post inevitably center on the Christianity versus Buddhism debate.
For someone who has no stake in any human belief system, I find myself mildly amused by how beliefs are presented as unassailable facts by people calling themselves journalists on networks calling themselves news networks. Forget whether or not Christianity or Buddhism or any other faith actually offers forgiveness and redemption, the certitude with which the adherents of these faiths assert that they do is striking.
I do not understand the practical meaning of the two widely thrown about terms. At least I can get my mind around forgiveness but what does redemption really mean? What do those who say they are redeemed really feel? Do they feel light and bouncy? Or do they feel calm and anchored? Or do they feel cleansed? Never having needed redemption it is hard for me to comprehend those who feel the need for it.
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