Merry Christmas from Ben Stein

November 25, 2006

Ben Stein 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. Is this 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.

Source

November 25, 2006 | Filed Under Politics

Comments

6 Responses to “Merry Christmas from Ben Stein”

J-Dub on November 25th, 2006 9:56 pm

I don’t have much to say except that at least somebody understands it….
Carol Meaninglis Giannone on November 26th, 2006 6:31 am

Excellent. I was so impressed with how beautifully and simply he explained a major problem in this country that I copied and pasted it into email and sent it to my entire mail list. Hopefully it will get passed from there around the country!
sissy on November 27th, 2006 8:24 pm

“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. ”

This whole article is nicely written. I really like how the above paragraph is said too. I just can’t put it down in words.
dad l on December 4th, 2006 1:14 am

very good /very good, timely too thanks for copying
it —-
Sleeper on December 11th, 2006 3:12 pm

Looks like Rabbi Elazar Bogomilsky needs to have a sit down with Mr. Stein.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/12/10/airport.christmas.trees.ap/index.html
Sleeper on December 12th, 2006 10:54 am

The Rabbi had a change of heart.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/12/12/airport.christmas.trees.ap/index.html