Tom Shales, television critic for The Washington Post, said Hume’s comment would be remembered “as one of the most ridiculous of the year.”
Shales went further and wrote, “If Hume wants to do the satellite-age equivalent of going door-to-door and spreading what he considers the gospel, he should do it on his own time, not try to cross-pollinate religion and journalism and use Fox facilities to do it.”
But Hume’s supporters argue that it was an opinion-based news session and Hume approached the Tiger Woods scandal from a Christian worldview. They also contend that Hume had a right to express his opinion, as “there is no religious liberty without the possibility of conversion and persuasion,” wrote Michael Gerson, former speechwriter for President George W. Bush, in a commentary for The Washington Post.
“In this controversy, we are presented with two models of discourse. Hume, in an angry sea of loss and tragedy – his son's death in 1998 – found a life preserver in faith,” Gerson wrote. “He offered that life preserver to another drowning man. Whatever your view of Hume's beliefs, he could have no motive other than concern for Woods himself.”
The under-fire journalist, who said he came to a real relationship with Jesus Christ after his son’s suicide eleven years ago, maintains that he does not regret his comments.
"I don't want to practice a faith that I'm afraid to proclaim. I don't want to be a closet Christian," Hume said in an interview with Christianity Today. "I'm not going to stand on the street with a megaphone. My principal responsibility at Fox News isn't to proselytize. But occasionally a mention of faith seems to me to be appropriate. When those occasions come, I'll do it."
