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I got some feedback from my recent article on Brit Hume’s proselytizing on Fox News Sunday in January.  Few were willing to put their opinions “on the air” however.  The feedback did not appear on my website for all to see, but came in the form of Facebook messages, which are (presumably) private, and emails.

Criticism ranged from astonishment that I am not a Christian to fears that I might be a Buddhist (and the guy who said it is not from China).  One person, knowing that I had written an article critical of Fox News, proclaimed that I was wrong before reading what I had to say.

Yes, religion and politics are touchy subjects.  Especially religion. But the point I’d like to clarify with everyone, at least for those readers who have not already deleted my URL from their computer, is that my article wasn’t about religion.  It was about politics.

My message was that Brit Hume’s sermon did not do Fox any favors.  The network already has the attention of the religious right.  Hume’s moralizing only confirms to them that Fox is the “right” vehicle for their collective message.  The Republican Party already has the votes of the evangelical bloc locked in.  It’s the votes of those on the fence that are in jeopardy here.  And it’s the votes on the fence that will decide the next election.  My criticism of Brit Hume is that he is hurting his network and his political party (one would assume he is a Republican) by lending credence to the view of many that Fox, ostensibly a news organization, is “unequally yoked together” – to borrow a phrase from St. Paul – with a religious lobby.

This kind of marriage scares Americans who, liberals and conservatives alike, feel that the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment is an important piece of legislation.  This is the part of the Bill of Rights that says “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”

There is nothing inherently wrong with religious proselytizing.  As I said before, Brit Hume is doing exactly what he is supposed to be doing as an evangelical Christian.  He is witnessing for Christ.  My point was that he could have picked a more appropriate venue for sharing his beliefs with the American public.  Until his retirement in 2008 he had been the trusted news anchor of the Fox network.  A person very close to me who happens to be a die-hard Fox fanatic said after viewing the video clip of Hume’s statements that she “didn’t know he was like that.  I always thought he was fair and balanced.”

The power and influence of Fox News is formidable.  Their winning formula of bombastic entertainment and caustic political commentary has Americans transfixed and in a lynching mood.  There is a fear among the level-headed that some modern-day Savonarola will ride that wave of rhetoric all the way to the White House.

Speaking of paranoia, I would now like to address those of you who are concerned about my soul.

I am not a Buddhist. Brit Hume’s statements were directed towards Buddhists.  That is why Buddhism became a topic in my post.  I am not a practicing member of any organized religion, because I believe that one’s relationship with God (The Universe, All That Is, Mother Nature) is a profoundly personal, subjective process.  If I had to pick a religious institution to participate in – which I have no intention of doing — it would probably be a local congregation of the Baha’i Faith, since I am very intrigued by most of the founding tenets of their doctrine, or “platform,” to use a political analogy.  The Baha’i Faith’s website lists the following as their core beliefs.

All humanity is one family.

All prejudice – racial, religious, national, or economic – is destructive and must be overcome.

We must investigate truth for ourselves, without preconceptions.

Science and religion are in harmony.

Our economic problems are linked to spiritual problems.

The family and its unity are very important.

There is one God.

All major religions come from God.

World peace is the crying need of our time.

Am I proselytizing? I don’t know.  I’m not a member of the Baha’i church nor am I certain that I agree with all of their professed beliefs, but I am in agreement with most of them. I will say that I am not actively trying to recruit people for this organization nor am I fishing for souls to do my part in protecting them from Hellfire.  I am simply offering information that I find intriguing to the handful of readers who stumble upon my website.  What you do with the information is a personal matter.

You may argue that I am proselytizing because I have chosen to highlight on my blog the beliefs of the Baha’i over the beliefs of another religion, say Islam.  Well, give me time.  All great thoughts will have their moment in the sun on my blog, as long as the American Taliban are not allowed to infiltrate the FCC and make blogging a target of religious censorship.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 4th, 2010 at 11:01 pm and is filed under Politics and Religion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.