The Baddeley secret that many don’t want to hear

TROWEL & SWORD

Andrew Bolt

Herald Sun, (November 2000)

Last Sunday, 19-year-old Aaron Baddeley grabbed his Australian Open [golf] trophy, leaned into the microphone and tried to tell us the secret to his astonishing success. But only the Herald Sun and one other city newspaper in Australia felt free to quote his words the next day.

Oddly, the same thing happened when the young golfer won the Open last year. Then, too, he made a speech thanking the person he most owed it to, the man he later said made him feel “calm, cool, relaxed and focused on what I do” and “always upbeat”. Then, too, only two city papers, by my count, published his words the next morning, although Australia seemed keen to know all about this remarkable young man.

Isn’t that strange? If Baddeley had said, for instance, that he owed it all to his mum or his childhood coach, would you expect our newspapers to avoid reporting his words? Of course not! So why the reluctance to publish the first words Baddeley used in Sunday’s victory speech: “I thank my Lord and Saviour for being with me.”? Or to mention that last year he said, “I want to thank my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ”?

I am not Christian myself, but I’ve noticed Baddeley struggling to persuade journalists that his faith in Christ is crucial to his success. “He helped me so much,” he said after his first Open win. His mother agrees: “It is wonderful he can gain so much strength from his belief.”

But it seems journalists feel antsy hearing this. A Sydney Morning Herald journalist exploded: “Bloody hell just once, I mean once, could a newly appointed sports hero thank “Satan, the Prince of Darkness.” Another SMH writer, Peter FitzSimons, snarled: “Piety is one thing. Pointing to God on your shoulder at the time of your greatest triumph quite another.” And this week, a senior writer on The Australian even hinted Baddeley was un-Australian, damning his tribute, to Christ as “rather American”, and pointing out he spent his first three years in the United States.

In 20 years as a journalist, I’ve noticed how many colleagues tend to switch off or smirk when talk turns to Christ. I suspect many of us even feel we spare interviewees embarrassment by not reporting they praise the Lord. The result of this quiet censorship is that the Christian God gets plenty of bad press-and almost none good.

If a rapist tells the judge he’s found God, we report that all right. ‘Love that mix of sanctimony and sin. But if a Christian praises God for his business success – well, that’s a bit off, isn’t it? It’s a pity the Christian God is given so little credit, because there is no doubt that He is moving in serious ways.

Consider how Christians now dominate our politics. Every mainstream political party in Canberra and Victoria today is led by a devout Christian, and both our Governor-General and Governor are Catholics. That has to be more than a coincidence. When covering the handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997, I found that the leaders of the pro democracy forces standing up to the communists’ bullying were all Catholics, too, including Governor, Chris Patten, his four most powerful civil servants and the leader of the main democratic party. And all Chinese, except Patten.

It seems indisputable to me that Christianity does inspire people to do well, and work for the public good.

Research confirms that Christians tend to be happier and healthier, and a study reported in August’s Australian Social Monitor found regular churchgoers were also more than twice as likely to do charity work than were atheists and agnostics. Yet we non-believers too often sneer at Christians for being so weak as to need the crutch of faith.

We should be more humble. For a start, driving God underground hasn’t lifted happiness here, judging by all the young Australians now punching each other, taking drugs and wondering when their parents will finally come home. Besides, a dogged atheist is as religious as any preacher. None of us can explain the instant of the Big Bang, let alone what went before, and just as you can’t prove God exists, you can’t prove that he doesn’t either.

Believe in God or believe in Nothing – it is an act of faith, either way. Only some faiths help humans more than others. If you ask Aaron Baddeley, for instance, it is thanks to Christ that he is not just par for the course. And that’s a golfing secret worth hearing.

(Our thanks to the Melbourne’s Herald Sun for permission to reprint this article.)

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