Speak Up

Benjamin Stein is an American actor, writer, lawyer, and commentator on political and economic issues. He recently wrote and then recited on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary, something he called "My confession". In it he mentioned that even though he is a Jew, as was every single one of his ancestors, it doesn't bother him "even a little bit" that some people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees. He doesn't feel threatened, or discriminated against because to him that's what they are, Christmas trees. Neither does it bother him when people call out, "Merry Christmas". He doesn't think of it as a slight or worry that they are ready to put him in a ghetto. For him, it shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. The Manger Scene on display at a key intersection near his home is just as OK with him as was the Menorah a few hundred yards away. He doesn't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, of course, any more than Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. People don't like being pushed around, period.

 

In his confession he is asking, "Where did the concept that America is an explicitly atheist country came from"? He can't find it in the Constitution and he certainly doesn't like it being shoved down his throat. In fact, where did the idea that we can worship celebrities but we can't worship God come from? I suppose it's another sign of age, but there are a lot of people who wonder where these celebrities came from, and where the America we knew went to. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Later she said you better not read the Bible in school, and we said OK. The Bible says thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal, and thou shalt love your neighbor as yourself, but in 1995 Ms. O'Hare was kidnapped and murdered along with her son and granddaughter, by a former manager of her American Atheist organization. Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave, because their little personalities will be warped and we might damage their self-esteem. We said, "He’s an expert and should know what he's talking about", and so we said OK, but in 1983 Dr. Spock's grandson committed suicide.

 

In light of recent events, such as terrorist attacks and school shootings, we are asking ourselves why people don't seem to have a 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, and while some might argue that we reap what we sow, I believe that there is evil in the world. Thomas Jefferson said, "A nation that expects to be ignorant and free is a nation that never was and never will be." Remember when I pointed out how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell: Or how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says? Remember too how we can sometimes be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us? We can't just sit back and complain about what terrible shape the world is in, because that is giving in to evil. We must speak up as witnesses of Jesus' Love for us and help others find God again ... before it is too late!