American Airlines' Preaching Pilot

In alt.religion.christian I read this message from "E.E.Bud
Keith" :


wrote in message
news
On Sat, 07 Feb 2004 19:56:45 +0000, rom wrote:

American Airlines pilot suggests passengers discuss Christianity
Associated Press

NEW YORK - An American Airlines pilot flying passengers to New York asked
Christians on board to identify themselves and suggested the
non-Christians
discuss the faith with them, a spokesman for the Fort Worth, Texas-based
airline
said Saturday.

Flight 34 was headed from Los Angeles to John F. Kennedy Airport on
Friday
afternoon, said spokesman Tim Wagner. The pilot, whose identity was not
released, had been making flight announcements and then asked that the
Christians on board raise their hands, Wagner said.

The pilot told the airline that he then suggested the other passengers
use the
flight time to talk to the identified Christians about their faith,
Wagner said.

The pilot later told passengers he would be available at the end of the
flight
to talk about his first announcement.

Wagner said the airline was investigating the incident, and that the
company had
guidelines about appropriate behavior. He said the pilot had just
returned to
work from a weeklong mission trip to Costa Rica.

"It falls along the lines of a personal level of sharing that may not be
appropriate for one of our employees to do while on the job," Wagner
said.

http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/...te/7900122.htm


Darn, I was going to post this with the header "Jebus makes pilot lose
job...claims he'll live on the love of the Lard."

And he will lose his job...can't have the mentally unstable in such a
position. I wouldn't fly on his plane, and I will send an email to AA
to that effect.

zamboni

And just what is that we call you, the guy was not harming a sole

Would you feel the same way if he had asked people to discuss
Islam? Or Satanism?

but you
compassionate liberals go for the jugular
just because you disagree with him.

His actions were clearly and grossly inappropriate. Whether they
were to the level of loosing his job depends on job rules. But
they are certainly wrong from a Christian standpoint. You should
not use your power of life and death, like being a pilot, to try
to lead people to Christ. You don't get open and honest responses
that way.

So he made and announcement but no one
was forced to do as he suggested. You jack ass libs are always spouting
about peace and dialogs, perhaps all he was attempting to do was create and
atmosphere in which people might talk to and learn from each other. But of
course biased people like you would not even consider that, off with his
head, right?

Again, would you feel the same way if he wanted a dialog about
Wicca?


--
Matt Silberstein

I want to be different, I just don't want to change.

On 7 Feb 2004 18:02:36 -0800, (Yaofeng) wrote:

rom wrote in message ...
American Airlines pilot suggests passengers discuss Christianity
Associated Press

NEW YORK - An American Airlines pilot flying passengers to New York asked
Christians on board to identify themselves and suggested the non-Christians
discuss the faith with them, a spokesman for the Fort Worth, Texas-based airline
said Saturday.

Flight 34 was headed from Los Angeles to John F. Kennedy Airport on Friday
afternoon, said spokesman Tim Wagner. The pilot, whose identity was not
released, had been making flight announcements and then asked that the
Christians on board raise their hands, Wagner said.

The pilot told the airline that he then suggested the other passengers use the
flight time to talk to the identified Christians about their faith, Wagner said.

The pilot later told passengers he would be available at the end of the flight
to talk about his first announcement.

Wagner said the airline was investigating the incident, and that the company had
guidelines about appropriate behavior. He said the pilot had just returned to
work from a weeklong mission trip to Costa Rica.

"It falls along the lines of a personal level of sharing that may not be
appropriate for one of our employees to do while on the job," Wagner said.

http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/...te/7900122.htm

What he did may not be appropriate. But he was not preaching. He
asked Christians on board the flight to share their faith with others.

So you think a plane load of people yelling and screaming at each
others is a good idea?

I would have no problem telling a seat neighbor how much of an idiot
they were to believe if they started in on my family and children with
that crap. You really think that person would not be offended?

There's a reason you don't bring up religion with strangers. It's not
polite and not conducive to civil behavior.

Just a comment:

When a crewmember wishes passengers "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Easter", this
has real slant but nobody objects. If a crew were to announce Happy Haaj (or
some other muslim holiday), it would be seen as very strange in the USA (but
perfectly normal on an airline based in a muslim country).

western countries have to deal with the conflict that developped with
immigration between the constitution which is slanted towards christianism,
and the human rights issue which dictates no discrimination between religions.

Until religions stop being cultures filled with visible rituals, it will be
very hard to integrate "foreign" religions in basically christian countries.

In the middle east, foreigners are expected to abide by local customs even if
they are not muslim (for instance, no female drivers etc). They can do that
because there is no expection of full liberty and freedom.

But in western countries that claim full liberty and freedoms, you have to
learn to accept very different people because your constitution stipulates you
cannot discriminate and must allow them to live the way they wish instead of
adapting to your country's culture.

A country would have to define a "religion" as being limited only to personal
beliefs and which exlcudes any rituals/customs/culture associated with that religion.

On Sun, 08 Feb 2004 07:53:47 GMT, Douglas Berry
wrote:

Lo, many moons past, on Sun, 08 Feb 2004 00:44:01 GMT, a stranger
called by some BTR1701 came forth and told
this tale in alt.atheism

In article , Douglas Berry
wrote:

When I fly, I'm paying the airline to transport me from point A to
point B in a safe, comfortable manner. Being a captive audience when
the religious nutso pilot pretty much tells the Christians on the
plane to bug the non-Christians for the entire flight would **** me
off.. I'd file a lawsuit against American had I been on that flight.

You could file a lawsuit but you'd have no grounds for it. American
Airlines is a private company. They can plaster the inside of their
airplane cabins with bible verses if that's what they want to do.

Yup, the way Alaska does.

It's why I always refused to fly Alaska.

But in this case, the captain created a hostile environment by
encouraging prostelyzation when I was unable to leave.

"Yaofeng" wrote in message
om...
rom wrote in message
...


What he did may not be appropriate. But he was not preaching. He
asked Christians on board the flight to share their faith with others.

The NEW Christian Crusades!

On Sun, 08 Feb 2004 05:46:41 -0500, nobody wrote:

Just a comment:

When a crewmember wishes passengers "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Easter", this
has real slant but nobody objects. If a crew were to announce Happy Haaj (or
some other muslim holiday), it would be seen as very strange in the USA (but
perfectly normal on an airline based in a muslim country).

western countries have to deal with the conflict that developped with
immigration between the constitution which is slanted towards christianism,
and the human rights issue which dictates no discrimination between religions.

Until religions stop being cultures filled with visible rituals, it will be
very hard to integrate "foreign" religions in basically christian countries.

In the middle east, foreigners are expected to abide by local customs even if
they are not muslim (for instance, no female drivers etc). They can do that
because there is no expection of full liberty and freedom.

But in western countries that claim full liberty and freedoms, you have to
learn to accept very different people because your constitution stipulates you
cannot discriminate and must allow them to live the way they wish instead of
adapting to your country's culture.

A country would have to define a "religion" as being limited only to personal
beliefs and which exlcudes any rituals/customs/culture associated with that religion.

When I flew back to California for Thanksgiving, a couple of months
after 9/11, we were treated to a sermon after landing. This was on
American. I wonder if it was the same crew.

"mrraveltay" wrote in message
. com...
Douglas Berry wrote:
When I fly, I'm paying the airline to transport me from point A to
point B in a safe, comfortable manner. Being a captive audience when
the religious nutso pilot pretty much tells the Christians on the
plane to bug the non-Christians for the entire flight would **** me
off.. I'd file a lawsuit against American had I been on that flight.


A lawsuit??? Were you really harmed by this? Do you think it AA condones
this behavior? Clearly, the pilot did this on his own. It was in poor
taste, perhaps, but certainly nothing to sue over.

That airline takes responsibility for all the lives on board, and vests the
responsibility for those lives in that pilot. Clearly, he was a whackjob
who would have no problems crashing a plane now that his trip to Costa Rica
had taught him all about heysooos, heaven, big daddy, junior and the spook!

It was inappropriate, period.

"mrraveltay" wrote in message
om...
BTR1701 wrote:


You could file a lawsuit but you'd have no grounds for it. American
Airlines is a private company. They can plaster the inside of their
airplane cabins with bible verses if that's what they want to do.

Or they could put something religious to read on your dinner/snack
tray.... Nah, no airline would do that.. (wink)


Heh Heh, I remember that. As you probably recall, that turned into one HUGE
stink, and it did end up in court, where the airline handily lost.

In alt.atheism on Sat, 07 Feb 2004 19:56:45 +0000, rom
wrote:

snip
Flight 34 was headed from Los Angeles to John F. Kennedy Airport on Friday
afternoon, said spokesman Tim Wagner. The pilot, whose identity was not
released, had been making flight announcements and then asked that the
Christians on board raise their hands, Wagner said.
snip
"It falls along the lines of a personal level of sharing that may not be
appropriate for one of our employees to do while on the job," Wagner said.


Gee, really? Ya *THINK* so? Well by gosh, by golly, what EVer would
make you think _that_, now? :-?
--
L8r,
Bill
/\~*`-\|~/.`\*=`~\/|.-`\=~`/\.|*-`\~*/.\|`=~`\-/.|=\`~*`\|/.-~\
"What I most admire about myself is my incurable narcissism."
/\~*`-\|~/.`\*=`~\/|.-`\=~`/\.|*-`\~*/.\|`=~`\-/.|=\`~*`\|/.-~\

"E.E.Bud Keith" wrote in message
...


And just what is that we call you, the guy was not harming a sole but you
compassionate liberals go for the jugular
just because you disagree with him. So he made and announcement but no one
was forced to do as he suggested. You jack ass libs are always spouting
about peace and dialogs, perhaps all he was attempting to do was create
and
atmosphere in which people might talk to and learn from each other. But of
course biased people like you would not even consider that, off with his
head, right?

His job is to fly the ****ing plane from point A to point B, not make the
non-Christian passengers uncomfortable (and probably a lot of the Christian
ones, too). He deserves to lose his job.