My mom recently forwarded me something that Ben Stein wrote about Christmas and religion in our society. Many parts of resonated with me and got me thinking, so I decided to post it. Enjoy. (Incidentally, the reference to Dr. Spock's son is slightly inaccurate - it was his grandson.)
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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 bo ther 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 creche, 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 Nick and Jessica 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 Nick and Jessi ca 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 recently) 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 lon g 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 cyberspa ce, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.
Are you laughing?
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 world is in. My Best Regards.
Honestly and respectfully,
Ben Stein
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3 comments:
It soooo true. We see it everyday.
And it is funny. Because people just keep slapping themselves back in the face for all that. (also i added more stuff on what you can do for fun internationly here in cali.)
The irony is, at least with the prayer bit, that it is a Mormon girl from Texas who sent that case the Supreme Court. She was sick of getting thumped over the head by Bible bashers every time she walked into her public school. The discrimination endured when she told a Bible hander outer that she had one of her own was nearly unbearable. When she spoke to teachers, a counselor and a principal to get some support, all said the same thing: you wouldn't get harrassed if you'd just take the Bible. And why don't you convert to "real" Christianity while you are at it? She and a Catholic girl at school decided to sue. The ACLU ran with it, of course, expanding the lawsuit to include prayer at their high school football games--one of the main points the whole case turned education inside out over.
The irony is that a few years later, a Jewish boy brought suit against the same district for some really shocking anti-Semitism he was getting at school from both students and teachers.
The take home message? Don't move to a small town in Texas. No, just kidding. I agree with Ben Stein's message(he is a really conservative Republican by the by), and maybe I'm trying to say that it isn't just the liberals that have made religion unpalatable.
I think it is too bad that society doesn't treat religious tolerance under the same umbrella that we embrace multi-culturalism, gender and color. If people worked harder at loving one another, that little Mormon girl in Texas would have not been so verbally abused by her good Christian brothers and sisters and religion might sit a little easier in our society.
I believe that most religions, like most political parties, would be positive forces in society if the adherents actually lived the principles they preached rather than focusing on beating the "other team."
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