Pilot suggested passengers discuss Christianity during LA-to-New York flight

SFGate.com ^ | 2/7/04 | AP

[CoolGuyVic]

An American Airlines pilot flying passengers from Los Angeles to New York asked Christians on board to identify themselves and then suggested that non-Christian passengers discuss the faith with them, the airline confirmed Saturday.

The pilot, whose identity was not released, had been making flight announcements before he asked that the Christians on board raise their hands, said American Airlines spokesman Tim Wagner.

[RightOnline]

"Discussing religion in public is rude."

Says who? The idiotic teachers who "taught" you in public school?

[Bronco_Buster_FweetHyagh]

If a pilot started talking about god and religion, it these times, I would be getting very very nervous...

[Dave S]

......so I guess it's not okay for a private citizen to talk about Christianity?

Not if he is intruding on the privacy of flying customers who he is being paid to serve, not prosletize. If he wants to be street preacher, fine but dont go after a captive audience at 35,000 feet.

[U S Army EOD]

They don't fly the plane it is on auto pilot, he has got to have something to do to keep him awake.

[fella]

Hasn't this guy heard about the seperation of Church and state and the freedom from religion? He should throughly scrouged and then publicly nailed to two peices of wood that form a T.

[Modernman]

Says who? The idiotic teachers who "taught" you in public school?

A stranger asking you about your religious beliefs is as rude as asking you about your sexual preferences. Private issues like that are not an appropriate thing to discuss with someone who you do not know.

[Prodigal Son]

If a pilot started talking about god and religion, it these times, I would be getting very very nervous...

True, true.

[Dave S]

I suppose sharing a faith based on love, mercy and forgiveness can be a horrible thing to some people...When will it be outlawed?

Im sure you wouldnt be offended if Pilot Mohammed got on the PA and spend three hours talking about Islam and the religion of peace?

[sinkspur]

Says who? The idiotic teachers who "taught" you in public school?

No. The nuns who taught me common courtesy in Catholic school.

In a captive environment (an airplane), you are rude to preach, teach, sell, or cajole anyone about something that is dear to your heart, no matter how dear it is.

[AM2000]

Oy, ya had ta ask.

[HairOfTheDog]

Okay......so I guess it's not okay for a private citizen to talk about Christianity? Does the government own the airlines? What about this is deserving of an investigation?

Don't panic Janet.... His employer, the one paying him to fly, is investigating....

[jocon307]

"...let's keep it professional."

I agree, there is a time and a place for everything. And yeah, I am a white-knuckle flyer, I probably would have been freaking out if I heard this, and I'm a Christian! I'd probably think the pilot was on some crazy suicide mission of something.

I actually took down a calendar in my law firm's library, that someone put up, it was very, very religious. I like stuff like that, but I just didn't think a calendar with florid saints' pictures (and I love florid saints' pictures) was appropriate for our law firm library. We are all Catholics, but not all our clients are. I replaced it with a nice patriotic calendar. Now, a calendar with just some dignified pictures of St. Thomas Moore, patron of lawyers, that would be pretty cool.

[Dave S]

They don't fly the plane it is on auto pilot, he has got to have something to do to keep him awake

Then let him hxxx the flight attendent. He can do that in private.

[endthematrix]

Let's play patty-cake with that stinky old man that's drooling all over my arm while snoring....Hey, love-fest on Flight 109!

[HairOfTheDog]

I'll be damned if God is going to ride in the back of your bus or anyone else's.

The people on the bus are not God. You honestly want the pilot to tell the guy next to you to spend the flight 'witnessing' to you?

[U S Army EOD]

A lot of the flight attendants are male, but on the other hand a lot of the pilots are female. Maybe this guy was a straight arrow who got bored.

[capitan_refugio]

When a pilot of a jet airliner starts talking about his faith, or encouraging other on the flight to do so, my immediate thought would be he might be suicidal. After all, didn't the suicide pilot of the Egyptian flight that crashed off of New York, repeat religious phrases on the way down?

In any case, his relationship with the passengers is purely business. I am sure the passengers did not pay for those tickets expecting a sermon.

[Blue Jays]

Good Evening All-

Posted by DoubleTap: "...The first time some pilot announces over the PA that the passengers should 'discuss' religion, I'm getting off of that plane ASAP. Even if I have to get arrested to do it..."

DoubleTap, you're right on the money! Even as a WASP passenger, I would be shouting at the top of my lungs demanding to be let off that plane. I would encourage similar protests from my fellow passengers. The flight attendants would be compelled to contact the tower given the passenger protest.

If the pilot continued with his religious ramblings after that...then you know you've really got a problem on your hands. It could potentially be a pilot who has a bunch of loose screws in his head.

It figures that a bunch of FReepers on this thread find this to be perfectly acceptable behavior simply because it is Christian-based. If I heard that yammering coming over the intercom, my Kook-O-Meter^TM would be pegged all the way to the right.

~ Blue Jays ~

[Lokibob]

Reminded me of a comedy routine:

When it is your time to go, you go.
But, what if it is the pilots time to go and you crash, what do you say to St. Peter?..... "I'm with him"?

[trussell]

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