Very insightful and very true....Take a second to read this: (not remotely true, and about as insightful as a 2nd grade book review.)
Apparently the White House referred to Christmas Trees as “Holiday Trees” for the first time this year (only if "this year" is 2008) which prompted CBS presenter, Ben Stein, to present this piece which I would like to share with you. I think it applies just as much to many countries as it does to America . . .
The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.
My confession: (I don't think he needs to confess to being Jewish.)
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, bejewelled 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 crib, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away. (And the point is that both are permitted; not one permitted while the other is derided - which was true when I was a child.)
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. (You can't find it because it's NOT THERE. America - or as educated people call it, "the United States," since "America" is a pair of continents joined by an isthmus and is more properly called "the Americas" - the US is a country founded on the belief that religion is a private matter, not a political one, and that no religious belief shall be supported or promoted by the government. Not atheist at all; just not an Establishmentarian country like GB, where the clergy is paid by the Crown and the Church participates in governing.
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? (I don't know anyone who worships celebrities. Most of my friends are a little more savvy than that.) 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. (Interesting; Stein gets older but no wiser. Change is inevitable; grow up.)
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. (It gets me heaving. And maybe frothing a little. Steaming, too.)
Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her: “How could God let something like this happen?” (regarding Hurricane Katrina). (As we all know, God is in absolute control of the weather and spends his time creating favorable conditions for people he likes, and unfavorable conditions for his enemies. That's why Israel has such a fabulous climate.) 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?” (How can a child of a fairly well-respected [not by me, of course] national figure come up with such a patent load of horse shit? God is a gentleman? And being soooo polite, He abandoned His creation? I don't think this twat has the first inkling of any coherent theology. And even if we accept the assumption that God will leave us alone if we ask Him to, who has asked Him to? Who is God listening to? Nobody I know.)
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. (Well, no. Several entities sued to remove mandatory Christian-based prayer in school. I think they got embarrassed when they realized some people were Jewish.) Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. (Actually, you can read the Bible in school, just like you can read "Mein Kampf" or Mao's "Little Red Book." You just can't compel other people to read it and accept it.) The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbour 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). (That's pretty dang low. Many respected educators and authors were also espousing the idea of raising children without brutality. Dr. Spock was only one voice. And to suggest it was his child-rearing that prompted his son's suicide is hateful, improper and probably incorrect. Parenting doesn't usually cause mental illness.) We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said okay. (And millions of parents were helped through difficult times with his baby book.)
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. (My children have consciences, know right from wrong, and don't kill people. With one horrible exception, their friends are the same. The kids I work with, kids in my neighborhood, kids of friends? Every one a stone-cold not-a-killer.)
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.' (I think about essays like this, and come up with a different bromide: DIVIDE AND CONQUER. Or SOME PEOPLE WILL SWALLOW ANYTHING IF IT'S SAID ON TV.)
Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. (I don't know anyone who trashes God.) Funny how we believe what the newspapers say (seriously?!?!), but question what the Bible says. (Because it's third-hand information transmitted orally, written down by people who weren't there and translated by people who didn't speak the language? Why would that cause any ambiguity in the message?) 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. (Because thoughtful people realize the religion is an intensely private matter. I also don't email about my sexual practices with my husband.) Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace. (Argh. This is so annoying. I talk about God at work. One of my friends talks about Buddhism. One talks about Friends Church. I don't discuss it with customers - I'd have to be a monumental fucking idiot to risk offending a customer.)
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. (It was posted on Facebook by two or three folks I know, so clearly, they weren't worried.)
Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us. (Well, duh. I believe God loves me even if I do wrong. I'm not so sure about my friends!!)
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. (This isn't thought. This is facile pandering to the paranoia so common in conservative circles - the seeming eagerness to believe that "they're out to get us!!" Guess what? Not only are we not out to get you, most of the time we aren't really thinking about you. It's only when you start trampling on the rights of less powerful or less numerous citizens that we get up in arms.)
My Best Regards, Honestly and respectfully,
Ben Stein
(I still think he's a pompous ass. And isn't he one of those celebrities we're supposed to worship, or something? Thinking about it - I don't even know who this asshole is. Or how he made his money. Or what he really believe. Criminy.)
And there you are. My US$0.02 in response to his steaming pile of pandering persiflage.
Merry Christmas, God bless you, and may you be ever blessed. And turn off the fucking television and read a book, where you'll find real ideas that will provoke real thought.
