I'm also not a fan of most email forwards. And someone I love (who shall remain anonymous) sent me a religious email forward today that I'm REALLY not a fan of. Then someone sent me their reaction to the forward, which made me happy. Then I sent them MY reaction, and now I'm going to post the whole thing here, because I think it provides good insight into my views on spirituality in a very calm, somewhat rational way.
So now, we begin...
ANONYMOUS EMAIL FORWARD:
If they know of him at all, many folks think Ben Stein is just a quirky actor/comedian who talks in a monotone.
He's also a very intelligent attorney who knows how to put ideas and words together in such a way as to
sway juries and make people think clearly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary
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 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...terrorist attacks, 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 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?
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.
ANONYMOUS REACTION TO EMAIL FORWARD:
How did you feel when you got this? I felt like I should write a rebuttal-at least suggesting that my God did not cause hurricane Katrina because of Nick and Jessica or the ban on prayer in school. I absolutely do not believe that a jew wrote the last half of that email. I guess I embrace an entirely different kind of spirituality. Thoughts? Love, *****
MY REACTION TO EMAIL FORWARD:
Ha! I'm glad you feel that way. :)
Here's the actual transcript of what Ben Stein said:
http://www.benstein.com/121805xmas.html
Noooo mention of the separation of church and state causing hurricane Katrina. :) I guess it's kind of sad, but *****'s email didn't really surprise me much. It surprised me a little bit that it came from her (and not *****, who I'm sure will send it later today or something), but at the end of the email it does basically call you chicken if you're a Christian and you don't forward the email to like, everyone you know. So I bet a lot of people feel pressured to forward it just because of that, despite it's extreme tone.
I think it's amazing how someone managed to take something written by a fairly conservative and religious man, something that most people would NOT find offensive, and turn it into a not-so-subtle threat: "force your children and neighbors to worship the biblical God, or HE WILL DESTROY YOU."
I have a hard time understanding organized religion anyway from a spiritual point of view - I honestly believe that God speaks to me in my heart; I feel like there's a REASON I like some things and not others, and there's a REASON I feel in my heart that some things are good, some things are bad, and some things are okay for others, but not for me. Just like my intelligence and creativity, that moral compass was a gift from God. I've gone to a few different church services as an adult, and talked to people from all sorts of different religions, but none of them FEEL exactly right for me. And when it comes to my spirituality, I'm not willing to compromise.
I think there are plenty of religious people (especially religious officials) who are following the correct path for themselves, and who are quite spiritual and in touch with God. However I also feel that (for me personally, so most likely with others as well) listening to a person telling me what is right and wrong, and having them tell me what God says I should say and do actually impedes my spiritual connection with God, because it makes it harder to hear his voice internally.
I think we all have the opportunity to commune with God, but that his message for each of us will differ slightly (or maybe even drastically), and his form (or forms, or lack there of) will be unique to us as well. It's a special, private relationship. I don't presume to know whether a Jew is more spiritually "right" than a Christian or Buddhist. I think people forget that religiosity is not entirely synonymous with thoughtfulness or spirituality; you CAN be thoughtful and spiritual without being religious (and certainly vice versa).
Don't get me wrong; I DO NOT think that our public schools teach children how to be thoughtful, spiritual people. At all. But I DO think it's possible for us to help them exercise those skills without forcing them to conform to even a generalized sort of monotheistic, Abrahamic religion. Which is why I feel the separation of church and state is a GOOD thing. I just wish people would spend less time, money, and negative energy fighting about it, and would start working with and enjoying their fellow man regardless of his/her religious beliefs. Which was, I think, the basic point of Ben Stein's original commentary.
Love,
Cat
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