Posted on 01/29/2012 10:51:40 PM PST by WilliamIII
The former Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, has spoken out against Alaska Airlines for their intended removal of prayer cards which have long been part of their service.
The cards are given to passengers with in-flight meals. But the airline says there have been complaints about the cards, especially more recently, and have decided they are no longer appropriate. They will stop giving them out, they said, to respect all their customers.
“This difficult decision was not made lightly,” a statement from Alaska Airlines said. “We believe it’s the right thing to do in order to respect the diverse religious beliefs and cultural attitudes of all our customers and employees. Religious beliefs are deeply personal and sharing them with others is an individual choice.”
(Excerpt) Read more at digitaljournal.com ...
“They will stop giving them out, they said, to respect all their customers.”
Hilarious. I have mileage plus with Alaska and there’s one thing that totally annoys me...their safety announcements are in also in Spanish, but twice as long as the English version. How many mexicans travel to Canada? Everytime they do that, the passengers were obviously getting pissed off.
It seems astonishing that someone would be offended by a simple prayer card placed on an airline’s meal tray, but I guess that’s the politically correct world we live in now. A few days ago, Rev. Franklin Graham gave me a heads up that Alaska Airlines may discontinue its nice, decades-long Alaskan tradition of including a little prayer card on flight meal trays. Rev. Graham is a frequent flyer to Alaska on Alaska Airlines because of his missionary work. Of course, as an Alaskan I’m also a frequent flyer on this airlines, which always seems to provide superb service. When I heard from Rev. Graham, I immediately sent the following letter to the CEO and President of Alaska Airlines.
It feels so odd that some may be offended by a little card with an encouraging non-denominational verse from the Psalms, but how often do we hear complaints about tawdry ads or billboard images flashing at us everywhere we turn? People of faith and common decency just shrug and move on from the constant assault on their sensibilities; we don’t call for censorship – at least I don’t. So, why in this day and age must every reference to faith in God be censored from the public square? Why must a private company buckle under pressure from a handful of people who find a little card saying “the Lord is my shepherd” offensive? I’m sure there are many more people who appreciate the cards, or at least are ambivalent about them.
Is it any wonder that people of faith feel their beliefs are constantly marginalized or even under outright attack when we hear reports like this and stories about Catholic institutions being forced to sue the Obama administration over their right to conscience objections? This Alaska Airlines story is just about a simple meal card, but for these Catholic institutions it’s about an issue that cuts to the heart of their deepest religious beliefs.
Here is the letter I sent to Alaska Airlines, and I encourage other customers to let their voices be heard. Granted, it’s hip to wage war on American traditions lately – especially anything faith-based – but for many of us it’s just not in our DNA to merely shrug off the nonsensical attacks on positive, inspiring, and (in my opinion) needed encouragement today.
Dear Mr. Ayer and Mr. Tilden:
Thank you for your tremendous service to Alaskans and so many others over all these years! We love Alaska Airlines. As I tell everyone, it is my favorite.
In my book “Going Rogue” I gave a special shout-out to airline employees because of the extraordinary customer service and good attitudes I witness on flights that my family and I take around this great country. It’s inspiring and impressive to see the sweet spirit of hard working airline employees shine, in spite of sometimes difficult people and circumstances dealt with everyday.
Also inspiring and impressive, and very encouraging, is the special touch Alaska Airlines has blessed fliers with for many years. Your small prayer cards that remind us of the beauty of thankfulness have never ceased to amaze me. In this tumultuous world, finding this little tangible reminder of such an important virtue is always uplifting! Thank you for providing the cards.
It’s come to my attention that the cards may be discontinued due to a few who are offended. I really hope this is just a rumor. Please remain strong and courageous in the face of a cultural trend that wants to wage war on any positive thing that a few may construe as offensive. The Alaska Airlines tradition should be looked upon as an all-American, hopeful, encouraging gesture. Please don’t discontinue the cards.
Thank you again for your service!
Sarah Palin and family
Doesn’t / didn’t In-N-Out Burger have Bible verses printed on the bottom of their drink cups? How is this any different?
To be sure, I might have more occasion to pray at 35,000 feet than when seated on terra firma enjoying a tasty burger. :)
Thank you to Sarah for speaking out so strongly about the bias of the mainstream media even some of those on the Fox network.
This is a sort of ethnic cleansing.
Don’t worry, the way things are going it may not be much longer before people are going to RE-LEARN how to pray.
“...in-flight meals.”
???WTF!
Bingo.
When I first read this story, it linked to the Huffington Post. I was appalled at its contents, and said so in a commentary after the article. My comments expressed dismay at how historically ignorant most people are of the religious past of the United States and how, despite the constant reference to founding father deism, there was a definite inclusion of Christian principles in the foundational documents and governing powers when our country was founded and for many years hence. Immediately, I began to get responses in my email box to my comment,all of which were vicious. Many were copy and paste versions of Wikipedia entries on separation of church and state, and various forms of insisting that religion played no part in the formulation of our nation. It was incredible. One writer, who identified himself as Jewish, said he was not offended by the practice but felt uncomfortable when religious perspective is mixed with business. I wrote to him and pointed out that the prayer cards contained verses from the Book of Psalms, which is also to be found in the Torah, the Jewish Bible as it were. I also remarked that if giving a public face to religion bothered him then I suggested he stay away from gawking at the Amish in Lancaster County as that area of Pennsylvania is certainly not shy about publicly proclaiming their faith in Christ. His response was that he was not offended by the overtly Christian nature of that region because it is their culture, and would feel the same indifference to a display of Hinduism by Indians who were Hindu. He skirted around the issue, of course, attempting to be reasonable, but remained blind to the truth. At least he tried to be civil, which was more than I can say about the other commentators whose responses were so mean spirited and spiteful, yet filled with glaring ignorance of what American heritage is all about.
Why is it that when some self-imprtant weenie doesn’t want to read something he thinks that no one should be allowed to see it?
Without question, Gov. Palin is addressing one of the most important issues of our time.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.