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.

[bd476]

LOL, you are preaching to the choir here on that one. My knuckles are white, my hands get clammy and it's amazing how my appetite diminishes these days when flying.

This story makes me wonder what would happen if a recovering alcoholic pilot started 12 stepping over the microphone. Imagine the mess as people sprayed out their inflight cocktails on that piece of good news.

[Virginia-American]

Who'd have been upset with the man if he'd reminded everyone to call their mother and father after a trip home?

Someone coming from his mother's funeral

[Prodigal Son]

Maybe we shouldn't discuss religion on FR.

Free Republic isn't a closed environment though. We are all here discussing things by choice. If I don't want to discuss something, I don't have to log on, I can leave etc. And even so, arguments are frequent on this forum. You don't want to have a 'flame war' at 30,000 feet inside the cabin of a commercial plane.

I'll discuss prolife all day, if you want. Or Christ. It's hard to leave these Truths at home.

Nobody's asking you to. But you're not the pilot of a commercial airliner either. We know for a fact that people sometimes crash airliners into buildings for reasons stemming from their religious beliefs. A pilot saying something like this is being provocative. You don't know what effects it could have. LOL, imagine him setting off a conversation between a Muslim and Christian and the Muslim gets ticked off and tries to hijack the plane.

I'd prefer the pilot leave religion out of the in-flight announcements.

Religion is flame bait material. Just like politics. I wouldn't want the pilot to say 'Could all Republicans raise their hands?'

A closed airplane is just not the place for it.

[SedVictaCatoni]

Why is a simple 2 or 3 lines over the speaker much different from the originator of this thread posting the news article and then criticizing the Christian pilot?

Because we came here for the express purpose of discussing news and current events. The passengers who were informed by their pilot that they should try to learn about Christanity didn't get on the plane with any such intention.

The pilot should be disciplined or canned, for a massive failure of customer service: discussing his personal religious beliefs over the PA system. He had no business doing that on the clock to his employer's customers.

[hocndoc]

Wouldn't that person agree with the pilot that those who have living mothers should call home, now, while they can?

The pilot evidently did not preach. He asked for voluntary testimony and made a suggestion that those who had an interest speak to the volunteers.

Maybe my expectations are skewed by flights on Southwest Airlines, where the staff is pretty talkative on the flights.

[SedVictaCatoni]

Maybe my expectations are skewed by flights on Southwest Airlines, where the staff is pretty talkative on the flights.

Yeah, but if any of those flight attendants made this announcement over the PA (or, say, "While we're flying, you might be interested in talking with progressive-minded neighbors about the Bush Administration's failure to find WMDs in Iraq"), even Southwest would rebuke them.

[hocndoc]

The see my post above. From the article, there was a simple call for voluntary testimony and a suggestion that those who wished to could speak to the volunteers. There was no mention of a long speech and no mention of taking more than a few seconds of attention.

There is no history of a Christian pilot doing anything like crashing planes for religious reasons.

I do wonder if he mentioned his recent mission trip before he made the statement. It would make sense.

[hocndoc]

It's probably happened. Those Southwest flight attendants get pretty ridiculous sometimes.

[Terry Mross]

The way I understand it is the non Christians were asked to discuss "thier" religiuos beleif with "Them". So I know seen coercion here.

As Flying and religion not mixing....up that sucker's going down you can bet MY religion and that plane is gonna' be mixin it up pretty good.

[Terry Mross]

She separation of church and airlines is not in the constitution. In fact the sep of church and state isn't either.

[Prodigal Son]

You know, the thing is, you don't find it offensive because you share this guy's beliefs. I don't though. It does offend me. I don't want the pilot to an airline talking about religion on the PA sytem. It's not the place for it.

There are lots of religions out there. That's the whole reason he should leave this alone. It's flame bait. You've got Muslims, Hindus, Jews, Atheists, Christians. It's not a good idea for the pilot to be singling out any one of them and encouraging the passengers to talk about these things.

[Terry Mross]

It's the Muslim faith that teaches suicide. So if a Muslim pilot starts guoting from the Koran I'm getting nervous. If a Christian pilot starts quoting from the bible my nervous meter will not peg as high.

[over3Owithabrain]

The pilot had just returned to work from a weeklong mission trip to Costa Rica

Another vacation "mission trip". Funny how so many new churches have to be built near tropical beaches. Anyone want to fund my mission trip to Bora-Bora?

[farmer18th]

There's any number of subjects that aren't appropriate to do this with. Think about it. What if the pilot had asked "Pro-Life People" to identify themselves? Homosexuals. Atheists. Republicans. It's just not nice, it's not appropriate and he had no business doing it.

Not so sure I buy that. In fact, I think it's one of the reasons we all resort to Free Republic to discuss politics, religion, and the things that matter. Our public discourse is so sterile and inoffensive, the only ones who grab the the mic are the Michael Moore types. Three cheers for the pilot. Saving people from hell is a public and a private service. Glad he had the guts to use his pulpit.

[Prodigal Son]

Glad he had the guts to use his pulpit.

It's not his pulpit though. That's the whole problem.

Saving people from hell is a public and a private service.

Saving people from whatever hell you believe in is a personal matter- not a service I need provided to me. If I'm paying you to drive that plane, you need to be quiet about your own religious fetishes and tell me what the airspeed is and when we'll be arriving at our destination. If I decide I need spiritual guidance when I get where I'm going I can pick up the yellow pages and look for the local mosque/church/temple/pub.

[Tailgunner Joe]

If you don't like it, fly another airline, Mr. Sensitive.

[Prodigal Son]

If you don't like it, fly another airline, Mr. Sensitive.

LOL, I will.

[farmer18th]

Saving people from whatever hell you believe in is a personal matter- not a service I need provided to me. If I'm paying you to drive that plane, you need to be quiet about your own religious fetishes and tell me what the airspeed is and when we'll be arriving at our destination. If I decide I need spiritual guidance when I get where I'm going I can pick up the yellow pages and look for the local mosque/church/temple/pub.

By this logic, if someone thought you were about to be hit by a speeding truck, they should wait until you were in yellow page mode? Freedom of expression can only occur when the message won't offend you?

The leftists in Hollywood aren't afraid to hi-jack every awards ceremony, every sitcom, every political drama for the purpose of broadening their pulpit time. Why can't someone speaking the truth do the same thing just because they happen to fly your plane?

[Prodigal Son]

By this logic, if someone thought you were about to be hit by a speeding truck, they should wait until you were in yellow page mode?

What in the world does getting hit by a truck have to do with me sitting on an airplane?

Why can't someone speaking the truth do the same thing just because they happen to fly your plane?

And what truth was this pilot speaking?

[EternalVigilance]

Hey, if the pilot told everyone to start praying, I bet they would!

LOL