Stein Gets It

I just received an email copy of Ben Stein's 2005 "Confessions for the Holidays" - well, sort of.   Mr. Stein's actual words do appear in the email - that's true - including this delightful quip:

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.

I want to give Mr. Stein a big Judeo-Christian hug!  Craig, it's always reassuring to be reminded that there are lots of witty, intelligent people out there who "get it."

That said, it's tough to get the message fairly stated - and recounted -  in the public square, as Deal so fairly dubs cyberspace.   In the email I got, Stein's commentary does not end where it actually ends.  The "public square" has added sardonic, inaccurate jabs at Benjamin Spock and the tragic Madalyn Murray O'Hair, attributing a range of calamities to God's withdrawal from a humanity that has rejected Him.   This personal tirade, Snopes claims, began appearing in mid-2006 and is now comfortably traveling the virtual world under Mr. Stein's name. 

This is not fair.  But it reminds us, Deal, that there are pick-pockets, thieves and thugs wandering the square right alongside the nasty and unmannered. 

Marjorie Campbell