Whining About Godless America

This time of year there are usually those who whine about the commercialization of Christmas. It happens like clockwork. This year a commentary by one Ben Stein, which apparently aired recently on network TV, is now making the rounds on the net. Mr. Stein, a Jew, is upset about what he feels is the way we have removed god from the public sphere in this country. He believes that we can trace our problems as a nation to things like removing prayer from public schools.

Give me a break, Mr. Stein. The problems in America today stem not from removing prayer from the schools, rather, in large part they stem from the negative and overbearing influence of Christin fundamentalists on our leaders(Bush) and our political system. Few make the claim that America is an atheist nation, but far too many make the claim that it is a Christian nation. The intent of the founders was religious liberty for all, not the establishment of a Christian state.

As for Christmas, Christians simply appropriated the pagan celebration of the solstice and have tried to made it their own. So excuse me if there's no Jesus in my holiday celebrations. He wasn't there thousands of years ago when humans first celebrated the wintertime change of seasons. So I'll be having a nice commercial solstice celebration. Have some fun around the holidays and don't worry about god and prayers. There are already too many religious fundamentalist fanatics out there who praying enough for everybody. Unfortunately, many of them want their god to grant them something that the rest of us wouldn't be too thrilled with.

PHOTO: The Graff Monument, which stands outside the Graff mansion at the historic Philadelphia Water Works.

Jim