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Ben Stein on Religion
CBS Sunday Morning Commentary | 12-2005 | Ben Stein

Posted on 05/27/2006 8:25:41 PM PDT by Hadean

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary, Sunday, 12/18/05.

Herewith at this happy time of year, a few confessions from my beating heart: I have no freaking clue who Nick and Jessica are. I see them on the cover of People and Us constantly when I am buying my dog biscuits and kitty litter. I often ask the checkers at the grocery stores. They never know who Nick and Jessica are either. Who are they? Will it change my life if I know who they are and why they have broken up? Why are they so important?

I don't know who Lindsay Lohan is either, and I do not care at all about Tom Cruise's wife.

Am I going to be called before a Senate committee and asked if I am a subversive? Maybe, but I just have no clue who Nick and Jessica are.

If this is what it means to be no longer young. It's not so bad.

Next 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 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 Jessica 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 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?

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


TOPICS: Editorial
KEYWORDS: benstein; christmas; faith; god; jewish; prayer; religion; school
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Got this in an e-mail the other day. A little old. I searched but didn't find it posted here. Sorry if I missed it.
1 posted on 05/27/2006 8:25:43 PM PDT by Hadean
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To: Hadean
The actual Anne Graham interview can be found here. What she says is a little different than what is in this email circular.
I say God is also angry when he sees something like this. I would say also for several years now Americans in a sense have shaken their fist at God and said, God, we want you out of our schools, our government, our business, we want you out of our marketplace. And God, who is a gentleman, has just quietly backed out of our national and political life, our public life. Removing his hand of blessing and protection. We need to turn to God first of all and say, God, we're sorry we have treated you this way and we invite you now to come into our national life. We put our trust in you. We have our trust in God on our coins, we need to practice it.

2 posted on 05/27/2006 8:32:32 PM PDT by CanisMajor2002 ("My religious beliefs don't allow me to be scared." -- SPC Antrone Vaughn)
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To: Hadean

I don't know or care if it's old. God Bless Ben Stein.


3 posted on 05/27/2006 8:32:55 PM PDT by sageb1 (This is the Final Crusade. There are only 2 sides. Pick one.)
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To: Hadean

I love this. Thank you.


4 posted on 05/27/2006 8:33:26 PM PDT by b9 ("the [evil Marxist liberal socialist Democrat Party] alternative is unthinkable" ~ Jim Robinson)
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To: Hadean
(Dr. Spock's son committed suicide)...and two of Marx's daughters committed suicide - strange how so many of those who spent so much time telling the rest of us how we should live our lives couldn't manage a most important part of their own very well at all.....
5 posted on 05/27/2006 8:38:22 PM PDT by Intolerant in NJ
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To: Hadean
And here I thought that Jessica Simpson's very existence was proof that God a) existed and b) is most certainly a man.

6 posted on 05/27/2006 8:41:29 PM PDT by Mr. Blonde (You know, Happy Time Harry, just being around you kinda makes me want to die.)
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To: Hadean

It's by the grace of God we still have a country! For the sake of His devoted children and His mercy does He grant us a free nation to worship Him in freedom! God Bless America!


7 posted on 05/27/2006 8:43:50 PM PDT by RoseofTexas
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To: Hadean

REAL "diversity" and "multiculturalism" will be achieved in this country when I can say "Merry Christmas" to a Jew and he replies "Happy Hannakah" and neither of us are "offended."


8 posted on 05/27/2006 8:56:12 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (Freedom or a baloney sandwich? A DemocRAT will ALWAYS choose the baloney sandwich.)
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To: Hadean
Snopes take on this. Interesting.
9 posted on 05/27/2006 9:06:02 PM PDT by upchuck (Wikipedia.com - the most unbelievable web site in the world.)
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To: FlingWingFlyer

"REAL "diversity" and "multiculturalism" will be achieved in this country when I can say "Merry Christmas" to a Jew and he replies "Happy Hannakah" and neither of us are "offended."

I like that. If you could shorten it then it sure make a great bumper sticker.


10 posted on 05/27/2006 9:16:16 PM PDT by willk
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To: Hadean

Ben Stein rules.


11 posted on 05/27/2006 9:16:28 PM PDT by Skooz (Chastity prays for me, piety sings...Modesty hides my thighs in her wings...)
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To: Hadean

However, those calling them tannenbaumen may have been more dangerous to Ben Stein in the past.


12 posted on 05/27/2006 9:20:35 PM PDT by Doctor Stochastic (Vegetabilisch = chaotisch ist der Charakter der Modernen. - Friedrich Schlegel)
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To: Hadean
Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says.

I remember once I shared one of my pet theories with someone I had just met. He said, "I believe that more than anything the Bible says." My response? "You don't know me at all, and you'll believe what I say over a book that's been validated over thousands of years?"

He didn't talk much after that.

Shalom.

13 posted on 05/27/2006 9:47:51 PM PDT by ArGee (The Ring must not be allowed to fall into Hillary's hands!)
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To: FlingWingFlyer
REAL "diversity" and "multiculturalism" will be achieved in this country when I can say "Merry Christmas" to a Jew and he replies "Happy Hannakah" and neither of us are "offended."

In the real world, this happens all the time.

But don't try saying, "A real family has a mother and a father." THAT will get you hurt.

Shalom.

14 posted on 05/27/2006 9:50:23 PM PDT by ArGee (The Ring must not be allowed to fall into Hillary's hands!)
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To: Mr. Blonde
And here I thought that Jessica Simpson's very existence was proof that God a) existed and b) is most certainly a man.

Honest question, now. Is creation really beautiful - intrinsically beautiful - or is it just what you know and so you behold it beautiful?

It's sort of a philosophical thing. Does G-d think Jessica Simpson is more beautiful than He thinks a cow is, for instance?

I mean, if you're right and all, how do you explain Helen Thomas or Janet Reno?

Shalom.

15 posted on 05/27/2006 9:53:11 PM PDT by ArGee (The Ring must not be allowed to fall into Hillary's hands!)
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To: Hadean

WONDERFUL ARTICLE. Hadn't seen it before. Put it in my HANDOUTS file.

Thanks!


16 posted on 05/27/2006 10:18:15 PM PDT by Quix (PRAY AND WORK WHILE THERE'S DAY! Many very dark nights are looming. Thankfully, God is still God!)
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To: ArGee
When you give a cerebreal answer to a glandular question all you do is confuse the one whose brains, however skimpy, are below his belt.

It is a good question though.

17 posted on 05/27/2006 11:43:07 PM PDT by Adrastus (If you don't like my attitude, talk to some one else.)
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To: Hadean

First, it was Dr. Phil's book on weight loss, and now it's Ben Stein on religion. What's next? Is Rosie O'Donnel going to publish a book on how to build racing engines?


18 posted on 05/27/2006 11:55:20 PM PDT by 308MBR ( Somebody sold the GOP to the socialists, and the GOP wasn't theirs to sell.)
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To: Adrastus
When you give a cerebreal answer to a glandular question all you do is confuse the one whose brains, however skimpy, are below his belt.

Well, one of the things that separates man from animals is his ability to think with the head above his neck.

When he chooses to.

Shalom.

19 posted on 05/28/2006 12:12:44 AM PDT by ArGee (The Ring must not be allowed to fall into Hillary's hands!)
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To: Hadean

bttt


20 posted on 05/28/2006 3:05:46 AM PDT by KeyWest (Help stamp out taglines!)
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