Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Finding Religion in the name of Convenience

I’m getting tired of hearing about people that use religion when they’re in a bind – when they’ve been caught at something.

No longer an adult responsible for the situation they’ve put themselves in, but rather a broken child of God or a “higher power” that have lost their way.

Tiger Woods, in his press release this week, referred to going off track with his Buddhism as a justification for adultery, saying, “Obviously, I lost track of what I was taught.” If he had of stopped his self-indulgent conduct (to put it mildly) because of moral reasons, his finding religion again would be more believable. But, like many before him, he was simply caught in the act, and has to squirm his way out – and make it look good while doing so.

So eloquently put in Newsweek…“Woods was following the boilerplate-celebrity addict script: Check into rehab, find God, make amends. The second step in any twelve-step program is to accept this: We ‘"came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity"’ (Lisa Miller, Newsweek, 2010).

It’s such a convenient way out for some people – using it as they please, when it suits them – when they need it.

Even people that have been to jail apparently “find God” while there… Then they come out and indulge in the same old behaviors over and over again. It’s tiresome to hear about. Why don’t people have faith in religion before they commit acts that hurt others? It seems it’s ok to be impulsive and entitled, as much as they want – until they get caught, then it’s back to being “redeemed.”

You don’t even see a lot of remorse from many of them, but rather just seeking a way out of responsibility – a place to hide, like a broken child that’s somehow going to be healed.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for having faith in God or whatever religion people choose, but not just out of convenience – a tool you take out when you need it, and forget about it when you want to be self-indulgent.

It’ll be interesting to see what comes of Tiger… Lip service? Probably. I just hope he doesn’t blatantly use Buddhism the way he has all the women in his life.

I’m a big believer in people’s actions over the long-term, rather than what they do for “damage control.” I guess time will tell.

2 comments:

  1. Cheryl, What a well written post! Liked what you had to say.
    Shame on Tiger Woods. I feel his press release was just all for damage control.
    Thanks for stopping by my blog ~Mary~

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  2. Very good perspective here...Thanks for your kind words on my post. I'll check in more often as I'm here in bloggerland..blessings!

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