A Confession by "Ben Stein"

I get my share of forwarded emails, as I'm sure anyone with an email account these days, and I even read most of them. I don't normally forward them however because I can't ever be sure if they are true or not.


I know, I can go to snoops.com to check to see if they are or not, but then that's even more time than I normally care to spend on something like these forwarded emails.


But I recently received one that purports to be written by Ben Stein. I have no idea if it was really written by Mr. Stein or not, and I didn't check it out on any other web sites to see if it is genuine or not. I tell you all this because I want to share with you a portion of this letter written by "Ben Stein." Regardless of who the real author is, I don't think it takes away from the truth of what is shared.


So here it is:

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.  Mr. Ben Stein, or whoever is the genuine author of this letter, "Thank you."