God, Judaism and the state of the World...

[j2sgam]

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 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 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 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?'

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 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.

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 yet?

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.

[Jangler]

Besides the fact that I already explained they aren't christian holidays?

Ok, I hereby declare my own religion - nattyism. I declare the days of easter and christmas official holidays of my religion and you can't participate in them until you convert. Easter will celebrate the time I squeezed out a perfect turd in the shape of an egg and will now be call Eggturday. Christmas will celebrate my birth, which is actually a month away from that day but people will believe it anyway because I said so. Plus people usually already have plans for that time of year so I'll appease them a bit. And it will be called nattymas.

qfs

[cookinwithgas]

China is growing like crazy and their people are enjoying more wealth and better health than they have ever had before.

They are an athiest country.

Ben Stein is so completely full of poo his eyes are brown. He sure didn't mention that if you don't believe in Jesus you are going to hell...just a general "belief in God who is now angry".

Would God be angry it we all were Jews and thought Jesus was an impostor of some sort, genius? Does that make YOU part of the problem here?

[scpanther22]

China is growing like crazy and their people are enjoying more wealth and better health than they have ever had before.

They are an athiest country.

Ben Stein is so completely full of poo his eyes are brown. He sure didn't mention that if you don't believe in Jesus you are going to hell...just a general "belief in God who is now angry".

Would God be angry it we all were Jews and thought Jesus was an impostor of some sort, genius? Does that make YOU part of the problem here?

Chinas an athiest country?

[cookinwithgas]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_China

The People's Republic of China was established in 1949. Its government is officially atheist, which viewed religion as emblematic of feudalism and foreign colonialism.

Religious belief or practice was banned because it was regarded as backward and superstitious by some of the communist leaders, from Vladimir Lenin to Mao Zedong, who had been critical of religious institutions.[3]

Houses of worship, including pagodas, temples, mosques, and churches, were converted into non-religious buildings for secular use during its early years. The Cultural Revolution led to a policy of elimination of religions; a massive number of places of worship were destroyed.

This policy relaxed considerably in the late 1970s at the end of the Cultural Revolution and more tolerance of religious expression has been permitted since the 1980s. The 1978 Constitution of the People's Republic of China guarantees "freedom of religion" . Since the mid-1980s there has been a massive program to rebuild Buddhist and Taoist temples.

There are five recognized religions by the state, namely Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism, and Protestantism.[4]

In recent times, the government has expressed support for Buddhism and Taoism, organizing the World Buddhist Forum in 2006 and the International Forum on the Daodejing in 2007. The government sees these religions as an integral part of Chinese culture[5].

In October 2007, the new statute of China cites religion as an important element of citizens' life.[6] However, the Chinese government has also banned certain new religious movements such as the Falun Gong and Xiantianism.

Buddhism and Taoism are considered more "thought processes" than actual religions by most.

[scpanther22]

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 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 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 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?'

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 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.

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 yet?

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.

:iagree::patriot:

[cookinwithgas]

and of course most of it is bullshit.

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

[cookinwithgas]

http://www.snopes.com/medical/doctor/drspock.asp

The last few paragraphs are kind of the best

[natty]

qfs

Quoted for stupendousness?

Ben Stien is such an insightful person. I think it's pretty obvious you can't have a conscience without religion. If kids were reading the bible in school there obviously wouldn't be any school shootings. Katrina? Yeah if we didn't push god away he surely would have intervened.

[Cat]

I've never heard one person refer to our country as an atheist country. Instead all my friends and family constantly remind me this is a Christian country. Considering 70% of America is christian and even more than that are religious in some way, I'm not sure how you can justify the statement that you are getting pushed around by atheist.

Being an atheist in America at the moment is about as taboo if not more so than being gay.

[Zod]

I like to think our country has freedom of religion and freedom from religion.

Believe what you want, keep it to yourselves, no problem.

[Happy Panther]

Funny how most of those email spam things are factually incorrect.

[Zod]

Funny how most of those email spam things are factually incorrect.

Funny how its usually the same people who keep falling for it.

[Captroop]

I like to think our country has freedom of religion and freedom from religion.

Believe what you want, keep it to yourselves, no problem.

Well said, and I wish that were the case. Sad thing is that it will never be that way because of the nature of civilization. We have to live together, and we have to be ruled by a universal government which regulates how we live and behave. The problem is, that those with different religions, and those without faith have differing opinions, and not the kind that a concession can be made on. I say pro-choice, Christians say pro-life. There is no middle ground; those are mutually exclusive categories. But a shared government can only support one viewpoint. So how can there be freedom of religion when one side will always feel slighted?

We can live in a nation of religious tolerance, even of religious acceptance, but never a nation with freedom of religion.