A confession by Ben Stein

My confession:

I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. 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 manger,
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 celebrities 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 these celebrities 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 (Lotz) 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 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.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't s pank 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 gone to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but
question what the Bible says.


My Best Regards, honestly and respectfully,

Ben Stein