Pinheads and Patriots by Bill O'Reilly Read Free Book Online Page A

and his thugs wanted to hurt the Snyders and all other military families. If the judges don’t get that, they should resign. There is a right and a wrong here, and the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals embraced the wrong.
    By the way, I offered to pay the Snyder’s court costs should the system come knocking on their door. I simply will not let this injustice stand without some kind of response.
    And there’s one final note that I want to send directly to Judges King, Shedd, and Duncan. When told the Snyder family did not have enough cash to pay the court costs, Westboro’s evil pastor, Fred Phelps, told the press that the family could cover the expense out of Matthew Snyder’s federal death benefits. How does that sit with you, federal judges?
    HUME-AND-KINDNESS HATERS
    Sometimes the debate over whether a person is a Pinhead or a Patriot gets complicated, and such was the case after my Fox News colleague Brit Hume delivered some advice to the scandal-ridden golfer Tiger Woods.
    The Hume-Woods confrontation began when Brit, speaking on FNC in his capacity as an analyst, said this about the golfer.
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    Brit Hume: He’s said to be a Buddhist. I don’t think that faith offers the kind of forgiveness and redemption that is offered by the Christian faith. So my message to Tiger would be “Tiger, turn to the Christian faith and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world.”
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    Well, you would have thought Mr. Hume had recommended devil worship to Mr. Woods rather than forgiving introspection. The Far Left press went wild, branding Hume a religious fanatic who was trying to impose his belief system not only on Tiger Woods but on everybody. MSNBC and the Washington Post led the gnashing of teeth.
    In response the conservative Washington Times editorialized:
    If there were any doubt that much of the media is hostile to traditional Christianity, that doubt has been drowned in the wake of a vicious verbal assault on FNC’s Brit Hume after comments he made about Tiger Woods. The histrionic fulminations against Hume for his inoffensive expression of faith expose an ugly strain of anti-religious bigotry that is spreading inside this country’s liberal establishment.
    On the Factor, I interviewed Hume, who denied he was proselytizing and said he was simply giving Tiger Woods advice that he believed might help him.
    I know Brit Hume and believe him. He meant no harm, and certainly his advice falls under the definition of legitimate commentary. Yes, Brit is a committed Christian, but so what? He correctly stated that in Buddhism there is no emphasis on redemption, because there is no concept of “sin.” He also clearly explained the Christian tenet of forgiveness and the relief that concept might bring a person caught up in indiscretions. Finally, Tiger Woods is free to take or leave any advice offered, so what’s the big deal?
    Despite my stated logic, some good people disagreed with Brit, placing him in the Pinhead category. I received thousands of e-mails on the subject.
    Nancy, who lives in Connecticut, wrote, “Religion is such a deeply personal issue that I feel making a discussion topic of someone’s belief system is wrong. If Mr. Hume wanted to reach out to Tiger Woods, he should have done so privately.”
    William from Alaska put forth this: “I was shocked by Brit Hume’s tirade. His favoring Christianity over Buddhism is unconscionable. Mr. Hume has proven himself a bigot.”
    Gary, who resides in New York City, also was disenchanted: “Fox News Channel is no place for that kind of ‘advice’ from a respected newsman. Wrong place, wrong subject, wrong time. I think you should have nailed him on that, Bill.”
    But why, Gary? Brit was doing exactly what he gets paid to do, give his opinion. In this case, the analysis was theologically based, but again, why the angst? Tiger Woods had major trouble in his life. The