An Eloquent Letter

It has been suggested to me that I make this into a news article. So here goes. Not everyone will agree with this totally but I think it is worth a read.


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 crche, 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