Just Hit delete if you did not like the Ben Stein Commentary
The commentary by Ben Stein was not all written by Ben Stein.
However, I sent it because it was thought provoking. It also
received an amazing number of replies. Every woman but one had a
positive comment. Half of the men thought it was a waste of the
resources of this list - the other half had valuable
commentary.The ones who thought the first was a waste will not
likely appreciate this follow up.
The writer is a client of Hispanic descent. He has property in
Canada which is why I am involved.
Think about his comments about death threats. I had similar
comments by phone from an Indian (from India) in the same area
but they were by phone. Most of us in North America would never -
ever - think about a death threat.
-----------------------------
Subject: From Paying Customer - Response Re: [Income Tax Help -
CEN-TAPEDE] Commentary By Ben Stein ...
Dear David,
This recent reference to a commentary by Mr. Ben Stein has
struck a nerve in that I am experiencing the direct polar
opposite of the experience that Mr. Stein has commented about in
his abode in Malibu, near Santa Monica, the community of free
thinkers, from my experience in my abode in XXXXXXXXXXXXXX, "the
belly of the beast" of Neo-Con "Republicanism".
Since I am a commuter from XXXXXXXXX to Los Angeles each day and
I actually see the "estuarine environment of beliefs" and social
expression as one enters and leaves such diverse metropolis as
Los Angeles County and Orange County, I feel compelled to respond
to Mr. Stein's comment by making the point that even within the
boundaries of a workaday commute, two polar divergent views on
the issue of religion and the state may be experienced to the
recognition that no group or group effort on the insistence of
religious teaching of any one or all religions can be demanded
because of the personal nature of religious belief.
It is one's personal belief and faith in each of one's action
that teaches the children to be good Jews, Christians, Muslims,
Buddhists, and good Atheist citizens. The teaching of any or one
religion through mass media and school systems is not religion in
action, it is rather acting out a pantomime of good actions that
necessarily need the responsible parent to impress on one's
children. The result of the former will be a bad actor, while
the result of the latter will be a hopefully faithful individual
brought up in the parent's best practice of faith.
If you choose to send this response, I request that my name and
email address not be published as there are many in the community
who have no hesitation to issue threats. A few friends and
aquaintences have been receiving death threats from vigilante
groups within Orange County. This seems to be the norm. I do
not relish being a target.
Good evening and God bless,
Comment:
Mr. Ben Stein is correct in the thought that religion is good for
development of character in citizens who follow a faith.
However, in my neck of the woods, South Orange County,
California, it is not the pre-emption of the teaching of religion
in schools or the random sincere atheist demanding his right to
not be forced to worship a God, but it is the forced requirement
to pose as a person of religious conviction, preferably of the
Christian Evangelical persuasion, that has been the current and
norm since Mr. Bush appeared as Presidential choice of the
Supreme Court. Rather than, as Mr. Stein offers, the public is
forced to forgo religion in every aspect of American life, quite
the contrary in my experience is the ever present bumper sticker
professing the saved individual, the constant conversation at the
coffee table regarding the latest conversion by proselytizing the
word, and the distinct certain attitude and higher than thou
affectations from nearly every person saved by the "gifted
leaders" who have sent our country to war with the "infidel" in
Iraq.
Such Christian charity as blowing up a country for no good reason
except to profit from it and cover the blood money in Christian
morality as seen countless times in the two millenia since the
Prince of Peace blessed this planet, seems to drive the kindly
nature of Christians towards Christians of the same ilk, and
others of faith with the same political fortunes as derived from
a pre-emptive war that seems now to be directed at Iran for,
again, no good reason at all. There never was and there is not
now any threat to the world or the American people from these
countries except the threat of becoming a nation that believes a
mushroom is behind every middle-Eastern nation.
To clarify the perception, perhaps one should look to the US and
World Corporate Media for the mushrooms. It seems that mushrooms
grow best in a media of organic waste and darkness. In other
words, "feed e'm shi...and keep 'em in the dark"; that may just
be the motto of the corporate media that promotes the fear of
non-existent nuclear material to America and the World. The only
"mushrooms" I see, contrary to Don Rumsfeld and Condi Rice, are
the "mushroom media" of our world corporate media "monopolies".
One more observation for the books, anyone who actually sees the
tabloids at the checkout counter of the American grocer market
and does not laugh at the idiocy of the genre of pulp presented
for enticement should rather read any mainstream American
newspaper, magazine, book of the month, or view the entire lineup
of any cable channel in any major American city and then ask the
question, "Is God being served here - or is fear and ignorance
being professed in the name of a moralistic regime serving
religiosity as a panacea for the pain each American suffers from
the guilt of inaction in the face of a despotic leadership that
has destroyed our Constitutional Rights, has wreaked havoc on all
environmental protections, sent our men, women and boys into the
meat grinder to suffer war on a non-antagonistic country and send
their entire population into the same meat grinder, destroyed any
hope of fair and unbiased elections by declaring federal law to
specifically identify a voting machine rife with potential errors
and no backup paper trail - and yes the voting machine is made by
one of the largest campaign contributors to the Republican Bush
campaign; and a score of notable Senatorial and House Republican
scandals along with Cabinet members and cronies of the President
who are just notable because they were so darn blatant in their
contempt for the American public in their lawbreaking and
thievery.
This is not a country that has forgotten it's worship of God, it
is a country who has forgotten who God is. When one can think
for God in public and one's fellows feel akin to the process,
then by gum one should be heading for the lifeboats because one
has just heard the band strike up "Nearer My God to Thee" and the
ship of state is foundering in a hysteria of public encounters
with God. Who can speak to God, who can know what God thinks?
For the record, my feelings are that God is someone, something,
some faith that there is an awe to existence that must be part of
the human experience. When that awe is put beside God the word
becomes Good, like God with a big "OHHH!" of awe. Remember that
God IS Good. Good people are not God, nor are Good people, or
bad people able to speak to God with a coherent response for
every entreaty. I believe that privilege is reserved for those
who receive a pass from Saint Peter when meeting at the gate.
The seriousness of the religious issue in our Federal Government
is exactly why the founding fathers demanded the separation of
Church and State. If two persons separated by one county line and
connected by the same coastline can observe an entirely polar
opposite of experience in the nature of the effects of the
teaching of any or one religion to the masses, then by this
conundrum one must realize that the issue of religion is by it's
very nature a personal responsibility and not a state doctrine
issue, rather it is best left to each individual to teach to
one's loved ones and enemies in the best of Christian tradition,
without interference, profit or favor to any or all religions.
We are not a country that has forgotten to worship God, we have
merely forgotten who God is to each of us individually. We are
now a nation of followers so ignorant of the concept of God that
one may claim to speak with Him and receive coherent answers
direct from His throne in heaven.
Maybe the God of the People's Republic of Santa Monica is
different from the God of the people living behind the Orange
Curtain. I thought that God loved everyone?
------------------------------------------
This was Another comment:
Sent: Sunday, April 16, 2006 11:28 PM
Subject: Re: [Income Tax Help - CEN-TAPEDE] Commentary By Ben
Stein ...
Ben Stein is one of the (fortunately, very few), Jews who also
vigorously & twistedly supported W.
This is so full of holes, misstatements & plain stupidity that I
am amazed you took it seriously, let alone sent it on to those
who look to you as a fount of wisdom.
------------------------------------
This was simple and from a man whose name would be known by 8 or
9 out of 10 people on the "list"
I enjoyed this
-------------------
Next was the typical female response:
I’m glad you elected to send to me.
I hate organized religion because it was/is created to control
the masses. In the case of the Muslims, par example they are
controlled through their teachings. The Bible, Qu’uran and Torah
all have the same plot with the same guidelines but the
interpretation is the thing horror stories are made of. I
believe we need to have our spirits nourished, I believe we need
to be taught right from wrong but I don’t know anymore where to
find that sound interpretation. The schools are barely capable
of teaching the three R’s any longer. They are driven by Mammon;
not Christ, Mohammed or Jaweh so morning prayer becomes merely a
ritual (I remember it well – it meant nothing) so introducing
religion in schools is only good if we teach all the religions
and philosophies. Then it would be of interest and use and
non-discriminatory but given the competitiveness within religions
(always trying to make or prevent converts) that would not be
tolerated either.
Indeed in “sparing the rod” we have not eliminated child abuse
but our morals – or rather lack thereof – have created a strange
breed of human being who is running amok without any guidance,
boundaries or self-control.
It is a conundrum
===============================
Passing this on became a challenge. Good food for thought. I
am one of those that thinks (thought) that religion should not be
in the schools for instance.
ingram
Subject: Commentary By Ben Stein
The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on
CBS Sunday Morning Commentary, Sunday, December 18th, 2005.
Herewith 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 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 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 9/11) 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 sad 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.
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