Ben Stien, wow, a little dense eh?

Here is a letter forwarded to me by my well intentioned mother. Below is my reply to this letter..


This guy is known as a financial expert, TV game show host and comedian....but he also writes very well. Ben Stein wrote this.

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary, Sunday, 12/18/05 .

Here at this happy time of year, a few confessions from my beating heart: I have no freaking clue who Nick and Jessica are. I see them on the cover of People and Us constantly when I am buying my dog biscuits and kitty litter. I often ask the checkers at the grocery stores. They never know who Nick and Jessica are either. Who are they? Will it change my life if I know who they are and why they have broken up? Why are they so important? I don't know who Lindsay Lohan is either, and I do not care at all about Tom Cruise's wife.

Am I going to be called before a Senate committee and asked if I am a subversive? Maybe, but I just have no clue who Nick and Jessica are. If this is what it means to be no longer young. It's not so bad.



Next 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 cr�che, 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.





And my reply



Hi Mom:

I'm never sure if you like comments on these, but I assume that by sending, or forwarding an email you are opening a communication line, so I feel that it is only appropriate that I reply.

I always thought Ben Stien was an intelligent, thoughtful man, but I was surprised at his level of ignorance in that letter!

I agree that I have know idea who Nick and Jesisca are.. I don't really care either. That is pop media hooking onto something that really is not important. And he does make a point, that people look at it instead of religion. Really, in a country where wealth and the possibility of striking it rich is the dream of everyone, then why would they look to religion. Especially a christian one which says that to have nothing is better!

But aside from that, he says that no where does it state that the US (or I guess Canada can be included as well) is an atheist country, yes, true, but it does state that religion and state are separate!. Why? Well, for a very good reason. What is good for the people is not always in line with the religion. Example: Africa. Millions with AIDS. Possible solution, education on condoms and their use to stop the spread. Problem, that is not a christian thing. So What do you do. Let millions die (including the children of these people, who had no say in what their parents did,) to force everyone to be christian and abstain (that really worked well in medieval europe.. spanish inquisition.. witch trials etc..) or educate the people in a non-christian way to save them selves..?

I was shocked to hear from my friend Mimi that when she was in a public school (humber vally) that she was made to say "Our Father" every morning. I would be in that school the very next day to either stop them from doing that, or better yet, they would have to also say a muslim payer, a jewish preyer, read a chapter from a science text, and as many other religions that I can think of.

But, back to Ben. He started saying that the hurricane that caused so much death and damage in New Orleans was because of a lack of prayer!!! Wow.. !! Ya.. lack of God in schools.. sure. I'm sure right after that they hopped in their big SUV's and drove home. Not even thinking that a raising global temperature caused by pollution creates a warming of the tropical waters, which is the driving force of the hurricane. It is because people don't pray enough that a group of pissed off muslims from a war torn country flew into the twin towers; the twenty years of horrible violence and the US's abuse of the middle east had nothing to do with that!

Why do I dislike religion so much. As a scientist, it, without any proof, is used in direct opposition to millions of hours of work and hundreds of thousands of human minds that have been used to tweeze out an understanding of ourselves and the universe. Because we can't all be right. That is, that if I am christian, I am not jewish, nor muslim, nor any other religion. In fact, we are all atheists, at least for all but one way of thinking. What happened to the Greek gods.. well, everyone is an "greek good atheist". And all religions say that if I am not part of them, then I am not a good person, or at least dammed to hell. So a jew is going to christian hell, muslim hell, Greek god hell, all the hells for the african tribes, as well as all the hells that will be thought of in the future, since the soul is eternal.

Morals are not given by religion. If that was true, then a priest or holy person would have really strong morals. And not be killing in wars, blowing up planes, and molesting young children. Morals are given by society, by human nature. Gorillas have their own moral structure, as do any other social animal. Ours are just a little more complicated. When society changes over time. What do you see, that religion says "no that is not a good thing to do" and everyone changes back, or does the pope say, aww.. ok. "You can do that now." It is the latter. Why, because religion can only affirm what society dictates as good! A child learns to share because they are shown that it is the best thing to do. If you share with your friends, then they will do the same to you.. not "Jesus shared, so you need to do the same!"

People want to be good, and they want to survive. But they also have a good deal of problems. The best thing we can do is teach people to see the outcome of their actions. To be conscious of what they are doing, and why they are doing it. To listen, and to think.

If there is a god, I think the best thing to do is think what god would want to see. Put yourself in god's shoes. You make children. What do you want to see.. Them all saying that god wants this, or that god wants that and to break up into groups of people that think the different ways. To fight and kill each other because of the different interpretations .. or, to see everyone looking after each other. Helping and living together. Teaching and sharing what they have learn but not mentioning god at all. The answer seems simple.

Rodger