I received this as an e-mail and thought it was worth sharing

A lot of truth in this

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.



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

I don't care what someone might think of me for spreading Jesus' name. I get alot of ridicule but thats just something that comes along with trying to get people to think about their salvation. I think we do complain too much and tell God to go away then call him back when it is conveinent to us. I never send God away and I claim Jesus as my savoir and want to spread the word, Non believers say we infringe on their rights but I say I tried and I will have to leave the rest up to God, Always a pleasure

That quote is the silliest load of tripe I have heard in quite some time, typical convenient answers as to why bad things happen to good people; just a couple steps away from the westboro baptist crowd. What about all of the devout christians that drowned in the katrina floodwaters? was god to busy for them, or is a matter of majority rule? Ridiculous, painfully ridiculous.

Unbelievable.

That's not a real letter from Ben Stein. Here's what he actually said, he never sent out a forwarded email

http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/benstein2.asp

Edited to add: He at no point goes on a rant about God and schools. That was added by someone else. The only thing Mr Stein really discusses is the "War on Christmas" and how he as a Jew is not offended when people say Merry Christmas. A Christian added the second half and used Mr Stein being a Jew as a method of adding validity to their claim. At no point does Mr Stein advocate trying to convert people. Why would be? The Jewish faith doesn't believe in evangelizing, and they actually make it very difficult for you to join their faith. You have to prove that you're serious about it. That's part of why I have so much respect for the Jewish faith, and why the majority of Atheists have nothing bad to say about them

Ben Stein is right. and if that man is in a tizzy, something is wrong. very wrong...

Thanks for that - the added parts are the inane vengeful bits.

Thanks I should have checked it out further
But hey I still like it anyway.

Ok, I am seeing a lot of misinterpretation and some insights too. The misinterpretations I see with Ben Stein's statements, is that how is it he thinks we are calling America an Atheist country. I thought this is a secular country, which I do believe does not mean Atheist. We developed this country to believe what we want, all of us. I see that we are all allowed to believe in Christianity, Judiasim, muslim, Pagen, Wiccan, New Age, and Atheism. Just as I believe there is no evidence saying we are a Christian nation, I don't get where Stein believes we are an Atheist country. I do believe we all have freedom of expression, and those who want to read the bible in school, just has that right. What is being put to a stop is trying to force others to believe something they honestly don't. That means, it just putting a stop to prosetylizing, where I believe is something that is bothersome. I do see a problem in those who feel it's alright to tell others how to live just to 'save' them. It's up to them how to save themselves, not anyone else.
Granted, Ben Stein is not the only one who is not bothered by Christmas trees and being wish Merry Christmas, but what about others. Maybe he should wish others Happy Hunnakah. In fact, I want someone to wish me Happy Hunnakah. I agree with him on that aspect, I too would feel that brotherhood in their religion. Honest, I would get a warm and fuzzy feeling. I want all religions to be there and out in front, not just Christianity.
And I think that it is all wrong in the accusation, that we all are telling God to back off. How can Christians and Jewish feel that they are part of the mass telling God to back off in public areas, when they are the ones not wanting that. Those who they claim are telling God to back off, are the ones who do not believe that there is a God to back off to begin with. It's just good consideration to all those involved in this country, to have a middle ground for all to come together and do what we all do, and still be ourselves and our beliefs at the same time. If you think this is an Atheist country, then your churches, your temples, and the like would be torn down legally. But the churches, and the temples, the mosques, and the like are here, because we are a secular country, for everyone involved. I get annoyed when people feel threatnend about God being takened out of the public area. That is because they still have their churches and their temples and their homes to worship and the freedom of expression to express their beliefs and rituals. That is what this country is about. When they want it in the public area, that is because I feel they want the rest of us to live their beliefs and lives, and that is inconsiderate. How can God be told to back off in this country, when he is welcomes in Christian AMerican homes, and invited and worships in American churches and temples? I think that Graham's daughter's answer to the Katrina question is complete made up! I do not accept that. How can he be all powerful, and feel helpless to help them in these people's time of need? How can he allow innocents to die, just because the rest of the country is telling him to 'leave'. This doesn't make sense! I believe something is going on, but I don't think we all can anwer for God or the like. This is not about telling God to leave, this is about allowing everyone to be themselves, and everyone's God to be there for them.

And to think that somehow we all worship Nick and Jessica, I thought he was smarter than that! For one, if this is the case, I don't believe God can help us. This would be a sign that this country lost it. And the fact that some do, then I don't respect them one bit!

That is the most ridiculous view I've ever heard. Hurricane Katrina was bad because WE (as in human beings, the only intelligence we actually know exists) failed to prepare and react properly. The only effect we could possibly have had on the storm was global warming making it a little more intense. We should not think of the powerful weather destroying towns that we foolishly put in the way as the wrath of God. That attitude makes me sick, seperation of church and state is crucial to a liberal democracy. Christians complain about it all the time, but imagine how a protestant would feel if a catholic came to power and forced children to engage in catholic rituals?

But can we expect anything else from the daughter of one of the worlds biggest religious frauds and swindlers?




If taking prayer and bibles out of school is responsible for terrorism and school shootings then it's not atheists to blame, it's the US constitution. Of course, the bible also says alot of things about killing unbelievers, adulterous women, disobediant children and non-Israelites inhabitting Israel, so maybe it's not a good idea to teach kids this stuff.




Again with that age old excuse that without the bible we'd be evil monsters. Of all the crazy pro christian ideas i've heard, that one is by far the most offensive to our personal integrity. Did he ever stop to think that maybe the gun culture and the violent nature of US foreign policy and the fact that these school shooters are just plain sick and not treated properly causes most of these atrocities? Maybe parents should actively raise their children instead of letting the school system and the media do it.




How is the world 'going to hell'? People have this weird fetish with Armageddon I think, and every bad event that occurs is a sign that it's coming, well what about World War Two? There is nothing in the past 62 years which comes close to how bad WW2 was, including the korean war, civil war in cuba, vietnam war, stalinist purges, genocides in Rwanda and Cambodia, the countless wars in the middle east involving Israel, Iraq and the US, and 9/11. Not to mention all the minor terrorist attacks in the past decades perpetuated by the IRA, Red Army Faction, and crackpot Islamic groups. All the deaths from all those terror attacks and conflicts and genocides wouldn't come anywhere near to the amount of deaths in World War 2, and might barely reach the amount of deaths in World War 1.

If the world didn't go to hell when 70 million people died and millions more were affected by WW2, I dont see how it's going to hell now. I also dont see how anyone is trying to stop public discussion of God either, except Christians who try to stop negative views about their lord and their beliefs.

Thanks for clearing that up, I suspected it might not have been his work since he seemed to be pushing pro-christian ideas whilst being Jewish. The article is still a load of tripe.

Um actually I think he was more along the lines of if something is not broken don't fix it...because you will break it. and this Christian vs Athiest thing is really getting out of hand. we changed A.D. to something else because of it. I mean. If athiests don't believe in God then stop acting like you hate God. and let history be history. The way our country was founded and built was special, even if not at all times right. But it was a process, and we made it to here and now we are systematically destroying all of the things that made it the way it is. Im just saying that the bickering is causeing rifts and this is supposed to be The UNITED States.

of course you like it .it says what you want to hear ,we all like to hear things that agree with us



fullywired

No problem I'm a fan of Ben Stein's so I was really upset the first time I read that haha, I hate that people were using his name to make their own argument sound more valid



that was kind of unnecessary...

Well isn't that the point here to post things we like< I didn't hear Irish say he agreed with anything so far, He just said he liked it. Be nice, Always a pleasure

What is wrong in telling the truth ?we all like to hear what we want to hear.Including you



fullywired

There's nothing wrong with telling the truth, and I won't deny that I prefer to hear some things more than others. That being said, your post added nothing to the conversation and seemed to be posted just to upset someone. Therefore, it was unnecessary

I will have to disagree we all don't like to hear what we want, Some of us would like hearing someones true opinion and some look for people to oppose them. In general WE are not alike everyone wants different things <Always a pleasure

Especially when they are articulated in full by a 'famous' person - bit like the Jessica scenario ironically. Too bad the best parts weren't his.

What surprises me the most is people are surprised and even hostile to find commentary of a religious nature in spirituality, religious and belief section of the forums! Go figure

I thought it was a Good Post, One can not say too many good things about God, even if he did not write it.

I do not think In God we trust should be On the thing used to buy elicit drugs , Extortion and all manner of Bad things public and private. But In god I trust.

Love Omnaka

I recieved the same e mail, and even though there are some who seem to think it,s not written by him, or that Billy Grahams daughter didn,t say what the artical says she said. I still think the message is a good one!

Forgive me, but some of the ideas in that letter are truly ridiculous, namely prayer having an effect on the laws of nature and the suggestion that there'd be no morality without a big brother style god in the sky.

To you that maybe so, but more than 80% of the worlds population it makes perfect sense

I don't think it wasn't writtenby him, I know it wasn't written by him. Just as I know Billy Graham's daughter didn't exactly say that (source) .

It's super that you think it's a good message, but it was not written by Ben Stein. I think the "goodness" of the email is negated by the fact that they lied about the source.




What is your source on that statistic?

Only 16% of the worlds population is non-religious

Irish.........that scares me



Interesting chart though - I note that half of the non-religious are theists as well.

Thanks for posting that I just like to see numbers haha'

http://www.religioustolerance.org/worldrel.htm that site is kind of cool too, they list which religions are growing, which are shrinking, which are stable, etc

Thats a very big percentage of christians, I think that is great and maybe these results account for the amount
of faith america has in God. The people who are skeptics or don't believe in God are really out numbered, May this be a sign? God does exist and Jesus Christ died for our sins, You don't have to take any christians word for it find out for yourself. Allow God to speak to you , Give God a fair chance. I am not saying just because most everyone else is doing it you have to. I am just hoping you will give God his chance. After all God has done everything and then some for you. Please don't get offended and assume I am trying to convert you I am just making a statement, Innocently Take it as that and know I mean no offence to anyone.Always a pleasure

How does it make perfect sense to anyone but the most crazy fundamentalists? There are mundane explainations for everything that went wrong in Katrina. Look at every serious natural disaster in memory and you'll likely see that the worst ones were made worse, not by God failing to protect them, but by people failing to prepare and react properly. I'd hope that most of that 80% are smarter than that, they should know that actions do way more than prayers.

The idea that God failed to protect everyone because the constitution was upheld is up there with the idea that the government deliberately blew up the levee's to wipe out the black population of new orleans.

And human morality and altruism predates christianity by about a hundred thousand years.

Now you can call yourself a minority

You can skew statistics any way you like, polls in the US come up with 3-10% non religious, sometimes even more. That's a big percentage of people who call themselves christian yes, but there are alot of sects and only one of them can really be right, and there may be a fair few who consider themselves christian but dont really believe it. You also have to realize that 66% aren't christian, which is a sign that it isn't the true religion. As far as I know, if we're going by numbers, the true religion and sect would be Catholicism.




Actually I'd argue that people who believe that are the minority, because if you lump all the muslims, christians and jews who honestly believe that, they wouldn't really stack up against the less crazy monotheists, hindus, buddhists and assorted others.

Christianity 30 CE The Bible 2,039 million 32% (dropping)

Christianity is only one of two religions they consider to be dropping. the only other is No religion. I haven't found any actual numbers, but the majority of the sites I've seen reference the decline of "No religion" on the drop in forced atheism because of communist regimes, however, voluntary atheism is on the rise.

" Voluntary Atheism Clearly on the Increase
With the fall of communism, coerced atheism has fallen rapidly. But voluntary atheism and other forms of voluntary non-belief are clearly on the rise. The formerly high numbers for non-belief, and even the vast majority of non-belief today is coerced, and therefore nothing for atheists and other non-believers to brag about. Bragging about the millions of non-believers in communist countries is the equivalent of bragging about your own group's intolerance. But if there was no reason for atheists to brag about those numbers in the first place, there is no reason for atheists to get upset about their decline. Religious people can cheer the decline in atheist numbers, while atheists cheer the rise in voluntaty atheism. Everyone can cheer the decline of coercion. "-source

And in regards to your own country, atheism/no religion has risen 9% amoung people under 25 in the last 20 years, as well as 3% for people over 25.

"As the Pew Forum notes, in its 1986 survey on religion and belief, 11 percent of 18-25 year olds gave their religious preference as "no religion/atheist/agnostic" and 8 percent of American over 25 said the same. Moving forward two decades, 20 percent of 18-25 year olds had no religion as did 11 percent of those over 25." -source

Don't get too excited.

Edited to add- technically, the graph proves that it is less than 80% of the world. A lot of people seem to be forgetting that buddhists don't believe in a god. It isn't much less, i just thought it would be best to point out that they shouldn't be lumped in there haha

Fair enough.

As long as christians stop trying to impose their beliefs on others by
trying to legislate prayer in school. Presumably prayers to the christian god;
cease and desist in the move to ban books from school libraries because they offend your particular beliefs;
trying to strong arm schools into teaching "creative design" "intelligent design" or any other biased doggerel;
Stop blocking attempts to allow same sex partners the right to marry;
AND
stop trying to enforce YOUR moral beliefs on pregnant women who may wish to terminate the fetus.

Y'all stop trying to back door your faith into the secular world, and the rest will stop "bashing"

Fair enough?

The thing is that truth is relative ones person truth is not another’s. Sure you have those who believe they theirs is the only truth which makes the rest of us look bad.

Religion should not be taught in school thats just one more thing that is taking parents right to teach disipline their children as THEY see fit. I will never agree that some person from a school borad will know what is best for my children. I acually brought charges against my sons school for trying to disipline my child, That is MY JOB, and only if he becomes unable to manage should they become involved at all. Schools have no business tryin gto instill beliefs on our children. Always a pleasure

I think that the disasters are a result of God's plan, many feel compassion, for his brother in time of crisis, feed him shelter him Clothe him, In essence love him. sometimes it does take great disaster to bring this love to the front. nowadays with cable and video games and computers, its a wonder we ever evn meet our neighbors, or know their names.

The good thing about Katrina or any disaster is , the dead , are not really Dead, and those left alive suffer because they don't really know, what happens when they die, so are also unsure where their loved ones really went. But they are gone, so one grieves his loss.

This pain tempers us and makes us Love each other.

If one could remember what it was like in spirit, he would not grieve, but then what would be the point of life?

It takes huge Faith to know this. I think if more knew without a doubt what happens after death, this world would not be such a get all and step on your bro non sharing world.
Imo.

I knew a Lady , when she saw an ambulance, she would say, "Oh look someone is getting Help"

Now that Is How I look at Natural disasters.

I hope I do not sound insensitive to the others pain and suffering, but I know what happens after death, so this can help me to think of The positive In a bad situation, like my Friend and the ambulance. It is never aparent while the stuff is going down, ( cannot see the forest through the Trees), but There is Good in what we might percieve as Horible beyond compare.

God , Heavenly Father had something to do with every natural disaster that ever was, but he killed no one, just brought some Home, and Home is Ten million times better than here.

I'm Glad this life is just for a short while, and the real life is in the Eternal spiritual realm.

This physical Life is killin me.

LOve Omnaka

Fair enough, I shall add an undisputed commentary of his

Darwinism the Imperialism of Biology; by Ben Stein

Let’s make this short and sweet. It would be taken for granted by any serious historian that any ideology or worldview would partake of the culture in which it grew up and would also be largely influenced by the personality of the writer of the theory.

No less a genius than the evil Karl Marx noted that even after capitalism succumbed to Communism, society would still be imbued with the class artifacts and cultural values of the system that preceded it. Much smarter analysts than I have noted that the whole system of Marxism, especially its sharp attacks on capitalists as a class, was motivated by Karl Marx’s envy of the much wealthier industrialist/capitalist members of the Marx family.

In other words, major theories do not arise out of thin air. They come from the era in which they arose and are influenced greatly by the personality and background of the writer. (In law, this theory is known as “legal realism”. Judges make up their minds on the basis of their prejudices and then rationalize their decisions by pretending to be bound by prior case law. One might call what happens with ideologies “political realism.” Persons make up their ideologies based on their times and their life situations.)

Darwinism, the notion that the history of organisms was the story of the survival of the fittest and most hardy, and that organisms evolve because they are stronger and more dominant than others, is a perfect example of the age from which it came: the age of Imperialism. When Darwin wrote, it was received wisdom that the white, northern European man was destined to rule the world. This could have been rationalized as greed–i.e., Europeans simply taking the resources of nations and tribes less well organized than they were. It could have been worked out as a form of amusement of the upper classes and a place for them to realize their martial fantasies. (Was it Shaw who called Imperialism “…outdoor relief for the upper classes?”)

But it fell to a true Imperialist, from a wealthy British family on both sides, married to a wealthy British woman, writing at the height of Imperialism in the UK, when a huge hunk of Africa and Asia was “owned” (literally, owned, by Great Britain) to create a scientific theory that rationalized Imperialism. By explaining that Imperialism worked from the level of the most modest organic life up to man, and that in every organic situation, the strong dominated the weak and eventually wiped them out,

Darwin offered the most compelling argument yet for Imperialism. It was neither good nor bad, neither Liberal nor Conservative, but simply a fact of nature. In dominating Africa and Asia, Britain was simply acting in accordance with the dictates of life itself. He was the ultimate pitchman for Imperialism.

Now, we know that Imperialism had a short life span. Imperialism was a system that took no account of the realities of the human condition. Human beings do not like to have their countries owned by people far away in ermine robes. They like to be in charge of themselves.

Imperialism had a short but hideous history–of repression and murder.

But its day is done.

Darwinism is still very much alive, utterly dominating biology. Despite the fact that no one has ever been able to prove the creation of a single distinct species by Darwinist means, Darwinism dominates the academy and the media. Darwinism also has not one meaningful word to say on the origins of organic life, a striking lacuna in a theory supposedly explaining life.

Alas, Darwinism has had a far bloodier life span than Imperialism. Darwinism, perhaps mixed with Imperialism, gave us Social Darwinism, a form of racism so vicious that it countenanced the Holocaust against the Jews and mass murder of many other groups in the name of speeding along the evolutionary process.

Now, a few scientists are questioning Darwinism on many fronts. I wonder how long Darwinism’s life span will be. Marxism, another theory which, in true Victorian style, sought to explain everything, is dead everywhere but on university campuses and in the minds of psychotic dictators. Maybe Darwinism will be different. Maybe it will last. But it’s difficult to believe it will. Theories that presume to explain everything without much evidence rarely do. Theories that outlive their era of conception and cannot be verified rarely last unless they are faith based. And Darwinism has been such a painful, bloody chapter in the history of ideologies, maybe we would be better off without it as a dominant force.

Maybe we would have a new theory: We are just pitiful humans. Life is unimaginably complex. We are still trying to figure it out. We need every bit of input we can get. Let’s be humble about what we know and what we don’t know, and maybe in time, some answers will come.

By Ben Stein Source

just because a large percent are christians doesn't make it great or true. Most of the world used to believe it was flat too.

The world isn't flat? haha. , I know but the majority is usualy the one that is true, With numbers come the amount of faith people have in God. True does not prove a thing. I just find it interesting that the percentage of people who believe in God is higher than some who don't an this does not even question lack of belief. I kow the saying if your friend jumped off a bridge would you, In other words should we follow the crowd or should we make our own crowd? If it was anything besides faith in God I would say I make my own crowd thank you. But this is about God and faith and while the bible and Jesus and God can't be proven alot of peole don't require proof. Someone said hey don't get excited some of these people could just be saying they are christians , Well again I will just have to have faith that they would not betray God in that manner, Always a pleasure

Wow, Mr. Stein tries to appear intellectual but uses the same old tired creationist excuses. It's like he heard the term "survival of the fittest" and based his entire opinion on that.

I didn't realise you had been appointed imprimatur on here ,Is it a recent or long standing appointment ,I must have missed it .or I would have submitted my post to you for approval before posting


fullywired

The ends justify the means. So lying, misquoting, and high jacking someone else’s good name is morally legitimate if you do it in gods name?

All that fly’s in the face of chirstian morals and ethics, or so I have been told.

Wow. I must admit I liked his "merry Christmas". This on the other hand...

Somehow calling Charles Darwin a Nazi imperialist (because some thugs used the theory to support the brutish behavior that they were engaging in), and implying that those who find the body of data supporting evolutionary theory compelling Nazis as well does not seem to be the most cooly reasoned of critiques of evolution.