Ben Stein and Christmas trees

This is supposedly a statement by Actor, Ben stein. I think the statements he expressed are irresponsible and childish, so I wanted to criticize them. My commentary is in blue.

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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, 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.

In the first two paragraphs, Ben Stein gives his opinion on the Holidays. I guess the way he feels isn't terribly unreasonable (yet) but who is he to tell everyone how they should feel?

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.

Ugh, here is the persecution complex. If Christians are being "pushed around" why is it that NOT believing in the Abrahamic god lowers a political candidate's chances of being elected into office? If anything, some Christians are pushing people around for not conforming to their beliefs by trying to keep non-Christians out of office. Also, Christians are the ones who tried to keep homosexuals from joining the military and denying their right to marry. America is NOT an Atheist country nor is it Theist. It is secular, which means that it makes no preference of religion; it merely leaves religion to individuals. This is what the First Amendment's Establishment Clause plainly states.

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 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.

Worship celebrities? Where the hell did that come from (Read the snopes article below)? Who says it's not okay to worship god? 80% of Americans identify as Christian. If believing in god is prohibited, nobody seems to be enforcing such a thing.

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.

You're numbing my brain. FAIL

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). 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?”

You have really idiotic and backward standards to qualify such a statement as "extremely profound and insightful." This is actually disgusting. So you're saying that your god feels hurt then becomes willfully neglectful? I thought he had his own will and he'd go through with it, regardless of how we feel about it. I thought you everyone said he was caring and loving. Why would you worship some insecure and abusive being who allows such destruction? I think most people think their god is much better than that, but apparently you don't mind settling for some god who thinks people are disposable if they don't love him. I know many Christians who are disgusted by the thought of their god murdering people through hurricanes and other natural disasters. They realize how offensive and simple-minded such an idea is.

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. 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.

Kids CAN pray in schools. Kids CAN read the bible in schools. The thing is public teachers and principals cannot make such things mandatory nor promote any religion over another. This is also a childish and irresponsible explanation for terrorism and school shootings. How about bad foreign policies? How about harassment, and assault that occurs in schools? These are real problems with many variables and factors and you're only offering frivolous explanations.

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 okay.

Where did this come from? Now you're really going off the rails. Did Ben Stein really write this part? [Ed:No] Anyway, what does spanking kids have to do with religion? Many kids who are spanked commit suicide. There are many kids whose parents don't spank them, and they grow up fine. I can tell you're not beyond frivolous conclusions I'm baffled by your disdain for experts (i.e. anyone who has done more research, in a particular field or study, than you.) Also, Benjamin Spock's son did not commit suicide! His grandson did, and he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. This was a distortion and a lie!

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.

Adolescent violence has actually gone down compared to when you were a kid, Ben (as if Ben actually wrote most of this). Kids have always been killing each other. Every generation thinks that kids are getting worse, and then the kids grow up and become responsible and then complain about the next generation. I present to you the cycle of bitchin', moanin' and ego strokin'.

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.'

Not much to argue with here. Why do you think I'm ridiculing you?

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.

Mr. Stein (or whoever you really are at this point), I've seen you trash other gods without so much as a hint of guilt. What if the world is going to hell because we stopped worshiping the Greek gods, the Egyptian, Mayan, or the thousands of Eastern gods? Here's a hint: if I can take an argument for your religion, swap elements with another religion, and use that argument against you, you have a stupid argument. Also, the world IS getting better: most people think racism is unacceptable; we're not killing people in coliseums; standards of living are always improving. Sure, everything isn't all kittens and rainbows, but things are much better than anything beyond 50 years ago.

Are you laughing yet?

I'm laughing at you and your simplistic views of national and world affairs.

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.

I knew it! Another lame-brained chain letter that probably wasn't written by Ben Stein.

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.

I wouldn't care. Especially if your god really is that insecure and negligent.

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. 

Two tickets to go on a lousy guilt trip!

My Best Regards, Honestly and respectfully,

I think you need to look up the words "Honestly" and "Respectfully" again.

Ben Stein (And someone else who added A LOT of stupid material)

(Commentary by Brandon K)

I've actually read a Snopes article that shows that a lot of the material that I criticized can be attributed to Ben Stein, but a lot of it is added by somebody else. In short, people put a lot of words in his mouth and made it seem as though some of the additions were his sentiments. Very dishonest.

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