The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.
My confession :
I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees.. I don’t feel threatened. I don’t feel discriminated against. That’s what they are: Christmas trees.
It doesn’t bother me a bit when people say, ‘Merry Christmas’ to me. I don’t think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn’t bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu . If people want a crèche, it’s just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.
I don’t like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don’t think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can’t find it in the Constitution and I don’t like it being shoved down my throat.
Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren’t allowed to worship God as we understand Him? I guess that’s a sign that I’m getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.
In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it’s not funny, it’s intended to get you thinking.
Billy Graham’s daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her ‘How could God let something like this happen?’ (regarding Katrina) Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, ‘I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we’ve been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out.
How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?’
In light of recent events… terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O’Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn’t want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.
Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn’t spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr Spock’s son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he’s talking about. And we said OK.
Now we’re asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don’t know right from wrong, and why it doesn’t bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.
Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with ‘WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.
‘
Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world’s going to hell Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send ‘jokes’ through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.
Are you laughing yet?
Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you’re not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.
Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.
Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard it… no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don’t sit back and complain about what bad shape the wor ld is in.
My Best Regards, Honestly and respectfully,
Ben Stein
So I made a fake myspace account. It’s a male myspace account that all my chick friends have access too, and we all use it too add our boyfriends exes to be nosey and look at them and their accounts. Yes I know, we’re women we’re CRAZY AS FUCK! But I told boyfriend this, and he laughed, and didn’t care. See, isn’t he amazing!?
Anyways, one of my friends baby daddy exes posted that article above and I read it. And it just made me really think. Religion fascinates me, different religions they are all different. But for some reason I have always been super hateful on Christians. Why? I celebrate Christmas. I sorta celebrate Easter. Talking about jewish people and their beliefs I am super interested in and find it all cool, same with buddism and such. But any time someone mentions jesus, and god and the bible I get super annoyed and usually angry. I believe in god so why do I get angry? I finally figured it out. It is because of all those reasons listed above. In school, whenever anything religious came up it was looked down upon. I still have a vague memory in 4th grade someone getting in trouble for wanting to lead a prayer before a test. Also, I LOVE THEM TO DEATH, but my family is very non-religious. They sorta frown upon and get annoyed of religion too, so naturally I joined in with them. But when my friends talk about it, sometimes the things they say too me are so right and make me smile and sort of believe in the better of things. I mean again, I don’t believe in the EXACT word of the bible, and recently I read that it is not all supposed to be taken seriously, but I do believe in a god and maybe I should start rethinking some things over. This doesn’t mean I am going to go to church every Sunday or anything, but, it is nice to think someone higher up is looking over me and I can ask for help. Tonight I had also went grocery shopping with my dad. I had went off about how crazy and stupid Palin is (after he had to remark how hot she is). I said how dumb it is that she doesn’t support sex ed in schools and birth control! And he explained to me that everyone has their beliefs and that we need to respect them. Not everyone agrees with my beliefs but people will respect them. Then I just mumbled all of America is going to end up like her slutty 17 year old. But who am I to judge her situation? Long story short, I need to be more accepting of christian and catholic beliefs (no matter how crazy they are) and find the fascination in them.
And also sometimes I want to be jewish still because they have the coolest weedings!
Hearing religious points of view from those who did not grow up with it is something I think all people who are very religious should consider and vice versa. I remember starting public school when I was 14 and being shocked at the way Christianity was portrayed. But I think anyone who believes in god has to remember that no human on earth gets to make the decision of who is right and wrong.
And nice find on the article here April.
Ben Stein is a moron and I wish he stilled had his show so I could win all his money.
I’m frickin’ sick of Bible thumpers and Jesus lovers hiding behind the whole “this is my faith, you can’t question it” argument. Bullshit. If someone went through the street telling you that UFOs were coming down to take us all the a paradise on Pluto, you would have no problem calling him crazy. He would probably be arrested. But I have to listen to people talk about a big sky man sending down thunderbolts and rainbows and spaking me in the afterlife if I do bad?
Ben Stein wants to know why our children have no conscience? What an arrogant prick! There are really good people (yes young people) and horrible people (young people too) right now, just as there has always been. We don’t need God to tell us to behave ourselves. At least, a sane person doesn’t. Natural disasters? Those have been happening forever, even when EVERYONE was praisin’ the lord!
And as for Dad and Sara Palin and respecting others beliefs…Sara Palin doesn’t want us teaching science in schools, because she is RELIGIOUS, and her silly medieval superstitions tell her she can’t believe in evolution, which by the way is not seriously debated among 99% of scientists, no matter what the religious right tries to tell us (Quick fact: there are more historians that debate the existence of the HOLOCAUST than there are scientists that doubt evolution). THAT is why we can’t just sit back and “respect other people’s beliefs.” Because they think they have all the great mysteries of life figured out (PS they don’t) and the prevent serious study and investigation into finding out true answers, so they can keep their little cult going.
Fuck you, Ben Stein.