commentary by Ben Stein

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 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 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. 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.

My Best Regards, Honestly and respectfully, Ben Stein

tolerance

I don't generally choose to attempt to wax eloquent on current events and politics, but I'm so riled up over Prop 8 right now I simply don't have a choice. Please forgive me.

I believe it is possible for what was once a strength to be practiced to such excess it becomes a weakness. The American value for individualism is a good example of this ... what made us strong and entrepreneurial as we sought our own way in the world has turned into a certain arrogance and selfishness, a "my way or the highway" attitude about life and the pursuit of happiness. It doesn't matter over whom we trample as long as we get where our independence and personal drive is taking us.

Another such American value that is becoming a problem is tolerance. I understand and fully stand behind the call to accept and love all people. Jesus tells us to love our neighbors as ourselves, to love our enemies, and to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. (Did you know the Golden Rule is biblical? See Luke 6:31, and Matthew 7:12).

But tolerance has become such a mantra of society that it now bleeds beyond loving our neighbor to loving our neighbors' ideas ... all of them, even if they contradict our own ideas or values or belief systems. In fact, the more contradictory or left of mainstream they are, the important it is to embrace them. Over time, the ideas and agendas of the minority have come to eclipse those of the majority to the point where any idea or agenda of the majority is equal to oppression of smaller sects. When I don't agree with an idea (socialism), an agenda (gay marriage) or a belief system (everything but Christianity ... I suppose I am quite narrow there), I am a bigot, unfair, unloving and totalitarian in nature. But where in the Constitution is it written that I am not allowed to have a belief, or hold moral points of view, that disagree with another? And yet this is where the value of tolerance has brought us today. We are to tolerate everything, which means we can stand for nothing.

In California this value has paved the way for extreme changes in moral legislation. Proposition 8, defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman. The gay and lesbian community is a moral minority in this country. In fact, general consensus counts the gay and lesbian population to range between 2-4% ( source). And not that I want to silence the voice of the minority, that is one of the tenets that makes this country great ... everyone can have a voice. However, this particular voice is forcing its morality on me and the rest of the state by trying to lock into constitutional law its sinful ways as "normal."

What gets me about this whole thing is that every "right" married couples have is offered to gay and lesbian couples under civil union. The fight for marriage is about acceptance of their behavior as mainstream, normal, and no longer sinful. Its not about marriage. And the ramifications of Proposition 8 not passing are a bit scary. You can go to the Prop 8 website for more info on the particulars. Also, check out stories out of Massachusetts where homosexuality is being taught in schools as young as kindergarten, with absolutely no obligation to even inform parents what their kids are being taught.

I came across a few other good articles, here and here, about the ramifications of gay marriage becoming law in California.

I don't feel the need to impose my moral values on others, forcing them to choose a lifestyle, a religion or a value system I agree with. I recently read somewhere a person asking the question "Why should the values of the majority be forced on the minority?" I simply reverse this silly question and say "Why should the values of the minority be forced on the majority?" And make no mistake, if marriage fails to be defined traditionally in next week's election, Christians are going to feel it. Pastors will no longer be free to talk about homosexuality as a sin. They will be required to perform gay and lesbian weddings when requested, or risk being arrested on account of discrimination. Kids in school will begin to learn about gay families as normal (and don't even get me STARTED on the effects this will have on our kids).

I could go on and on ... but I won't. Just google "effects of gay marriage in Europe" or "... in Massachusetts," and you'll find some fascinating studies. I am in awe of the audacity of this small portion of society playing with natural laws that have been in place since the beginning of the human race. Never before in society has such a redefinition of the family been proposed. The effects can only continue to degrade the family unit, already in so much trouble in this country. And it is the strength of the family unit that makes a society strong. And then of course, there's the beginning of the "slippery slope" of defining marriage. The gay community will deny it of course, but making gay marriage legal begins to pave the way for all kinds of various definitions of marriage.

Its interesting, for the first time in my life, an issue has come up that involves actual persecution of my beliefs. On that note, I think Christians in America are on the verge of some serious challenges to their commitment to Jesus, to the Bible, to their faith. Will we stand strong? Will we resist the "persuasive arguments" of the enemy (Col. 2:8)? I hope so. I think if the Christian community in this country would just stand united, we could accomplish some amazing things. Maybe a little baptism by fire is all we need ....

Please please please ... even if you have no idea how to vote on anything else in this election, VOTE YES ON PROPOSITION 8!!

daily battles

Do you ever have one of those days when, as you stare at yourself in the mirror, you have to make a conscious decision to like what you see? I've been having a few of those days lately. I look at myself and sometimes I only see the bad skin, which I still fight at age 33. I see the hair that doesn't shine like those girls in the Pantene commercials, despite my use of the product. (Liars!) I lament at the 30 pounds I still wish I would buckle down and lose, but every day I vacillate between "I can lose 10 pounds!" and "life's too short to skip dessert." As a result I've lost the same 4 pounds countless times this year, failing to gain any ground at all. I wish I were a better dresser, that every time I walked out the door Stacey London would approve. Unfortunately, on these days I feel she would discard my entire wardrobe, wracked with horror that I would wear flip-flops to work and throw my hair in a pony tail. I feel so un-put-together sometimes.

I find myself comparing myself to those around me. I have four beautiful (and skinny) sisters. I have tons of beautiful cousins. (See bachelorette party pictures below.) I work with beautiful put-together people. I have friends who do all the right things with their hair and clothes, and manage to lose the baby weight after each kid.

I am sorely tempted to focus on these things, and to completely forget that I am fearfully and wonderfully made. On days like this I don't even know what that means, or how I'm supposed to own it to rise above society's impossible demands. I know that I am precious in the eyes of my husband, my family, my friends ... and especially my dog. (No one else greets me by jumping twice their height into the air when they see me.) No, today I'm having a hard time getting past the things about myself I wish were different, despite the countless reasons I should have for thinking otherwise. Most days I can talk myself out of low self-image moments, but there are days when the battle is overwhelming, and I don't have any weapons with which to fight.

The daily onslaught of Pantene commercials, celebrity magazines, diet fads, Hollywood awards shows and the regular fashion show life is supposed to be ... it makes me tired. I want to rise above it, I really do. And most days I can. Those who know me well know I usually have self-esteem to spare. But today, all I feel like doing is curling up on the couch in my sweats and t-shirt with a gallon of mint-n-chip ice cream and drowning my issues in episode after episode of Law and Order: SVU. Which, of course, doesn't help anything at all. I suppose I'll have to content myself with the M&M's in the office and my somewhat comfy office chair ... at least until I've gathered the strength to fight again.

You have days like this, too ... right?

how do i know its summer?

dark doesn't come until after 8:30
baseball is on every night
flip flops and sun hats
the desire to shower at least twice a day
ponytails
that annual desire to chop off my hair
too hot to knit with wool (but i do it anyway, and then my hands start to sweat, which makes the wool even harder to work with, and then i get frustrated ... its a vicious cycle)
bugs
the shade of trees full with leaves and flowers
too much ice cream
the sun is up before i am
shorts and tank tops and sundresses
that perpetual smell of sunblock
birthday parties
wedding planning (third summer in a row)
sunburns and new freckles
blockbuster movies
the all-night buzz of the fan
cheesy chick lit that keeps me up late at night

though the days are long and hot, i find i truly enjoy summer and its "lazy" days, which i believe are called lazy because we're all too hot to exert much energy, which is why movies and books and ice cream and flip flops are such a summer staple. the first day of summer is just two days from now (though the weather would say its already here). enjoy!