Pilot terrifies passengers

Pilot terrifies passengers

An American Airlines pilot terrified passengers on his flight when he asked Christians to identify themselves and went on to call non-Christians "crazy".

Some passengers on the flight from Los Angeles to New York were so worried they tried to call relatives on their mobile phones.

The pilot, whose name was not released, asked Christians on Friday's flight to raise their hands.

He then suggested non-Christians talk to the Christians about their faith.

He went on to say that "everyone who doesn't have their hand raised is crazy", passenger Amanda Nelligan told CBS news.

"He continued to say, 'Well, you have a choice: you can make this trip worthwhile, or you can sit back, read a book and watch the movie'," she said.

The pilot also told passengers he would be available for discussion at the end of the flight.

Ms Nelligan said passengers had thought the pilot's behaviour was "bizarre" and wondered whether his comments were a threat.

Flight attendants notified ground control.

American Airlines spokesman Tim Wagner said the incident was being investigated.

"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," he added.

:spangled:Why am I not surprised this kind of thing would happen?

what a knacker!

Its daft how brainwashed americans are into beliving in Christianity like, they cant take it when people don't share their beliefs or question the fundementals that its based on.

I remember having an argument....well, debate, in America when I was snowboardingwith some Americans who were shitting on about god, was amusing.

But remember, if you dont belive in God you will go to hell and be damned for all eternity in the fiery depths reigned by lucifer himself....but believe in God, and you will be Allocated you very own cloud and given a harp to play for all eternity

IMO religion is based on the fear that people have when they die!

That pilot should be seriously punished. I mean....if it was on the number 62 bus and the driver started going on...you could just get on the next bus.....not a luxury offered at 35000 feet

Yet the Islamic fundamentalists think America is run by Jews more powerful than JOE COHEN

no-one is more powerful than w'or Joe.

The pilot must have been monged like :spangled:

good work old chap, chocks away

Damn I hate zealots of all convictions :/ . They piss me off big style. Look on the Last Temptation of the Christ board on IMDB for a good example, the best trolling I have had in a good long while

Why oh why is "faith", aka an irrational and unsupported belief contravening evidence or logic, considered a virtue?

Apart from that how did you & the muffs get on?

Spot on, I won, PB on the bench and squat, coulda benched a lot more that I did tho, 165 went up like the bare bar.

Cheers for asking mate

surely you can respect someones right to put their faith in a religion?

Putting faith in something that is an irrational and unsupported belief contravening evidence or logic is not an admirable quality. But someone devoting their life to a moral cause they belief is just... commands respect.

You may disagree with religion, but far greater men have followed it religously (bad pun )

Applying one's self to a cause one beleives in strongly is admirable, in my opinion; Selecting that cause for all the wrong reasons is, in my opinion, not.

It isn't apathy I am arguing for, it is astuteness.

Thats a very arrogant statement for wealthy western man to make.

When you compare your staus to say a farmer ina third world country... its very easy to cynical - but tell me what should he put his faith in? Religion gives him a moral structure and hope... If you take that way what does have?

surely you can respect the good religion can do and if you can respect this good then you really have no grounds to dismiss it.

I am not dismissing religion en masse, even though I personally disagree with it. I am dismissing the attitudes of religious zealots, as I clearly stated in my first post; equally, antireligious "zealots", who refuse to listen to reason from pro religion campaigners, are just as annoying and irrational.

It was VI Lenin who wrote, "Religion is the opiate of the masses", as you state it; I agree that if the religion is not dogmatic or aggressive, ie that it does not create moral stigma and social strife, it can effectively help people to deal with their lives on a day to day basis, but is this not similar to drugging the poor and needy, instead of resolving the problem that makes them poor or that stops needs being fulfilled? Religion, with few but notable exceptions, plays into the hands of the state: there are more Inquisitions than Mother Theresas in history.

If I was to be influenced into beleiving in a higher entity, I would personally like to think that I would do my best to come to terms with it in a personal way; why would I need another human being to control me into his way of belief? Does he or she know any better? Unlikely.

Edit: Typos

Religion gives an alternative to conventional wealth, an opium harvesting afghan can exalt his humble and hopeless status to a position of self-respect and self-content... He no longer needs reebok trainers or semi-skimmed organic milk as through his eyes his life is content.

I think nomad mongol heardsmen are a great example of religion working, many of them converted to islam a long time ago - they don't have conventional riches but they live a very satsifying and rich life... Islam has provided an alternative to what would be percieved as a very poor life by capitalist standards.

When looking at the problem through western glasses, religion can be seen as a hinderance... But both capitalist and communist teachings dictate that nations should grow from strength and this growth curve is percieved as a natural progression.

If your not moving forwrad then something is wrong, if your not bettering yourself then you have a problem, etc.

Religion provides a nice alterntive to this, you don't have to be part of a fantasticlly rich or strong nation... You can live a rewarding life whatever your social staus - as a communist I'd be interested to hear your counter arguement

Re: Pilot terrifies passengers

fucking asshole, I hate christian fundamentalists on a good day but this one I'd take out and shoot :evil: :evil:

Interesting perspective.

I would theorise that the type of religion you specify would approximate closely to the "personal god" I talked about.

Under fundemantal Muslim rule, there is little such contented, simple life, as exemplified by the civil unrest in Iran in recent times.

To address your point that poth Capitalist and Communist states do not see this spiritual side to human nature, I would say that human standard of living is defined both by material measures
(GDP etc ) and, sometimes more importantly, by certain psychological factors, eg the afghan herdsmen being satisfied due to their faith.

Economics is the study of the former, and it is here where most people and so far virtually all Governments seek to implement ideology. However, as you correctly state, this does not address the whole of the human condition.

There must be an atavistic root to the desire in Humans to beleive in something greater than themselves, that they are part of; it gives happiness to so many people, from so amny backgrounds, I do not think it can be explained away as a social paradigm that can be shifted.

However, what says that the greater organ in which we beleive must be an omnipotent alien, as seems to dominate all past religion? Can someone not gain the satisfaction of knowing that they worked their whole life meaningfully towards a goal, if that goal were to be the emancipation of mankind?

In other words, under a Communist system, could people not have faith in the goal of the system? A faith that would be backed up by progress and logic, the lack of which brought down every socialist state so far (due to the dream being shattered by the iron fist of the NKVD etc).

If you accept the above paragraph, would a system that dealt with both facets of what defines and pleases the people of the world, wouldn't it be superior to just pleasing one and satisficing the other?

Re: Re: Pilot terrifies passengers

I just dislike anyone who feels the need to enforce their veiws on another person... and on a plane too after 9/11 and the events in its wake. American's should feel they can fly safely, and certainly not feel discomfort from a compatriot who also happens to be the bloody pilot! If the pilot was of a different religion (not neccessarily Islam), would there be different consequences? I would put money on there being a large amount of security forces waiting for him, and a trial by media high profile case resulting in a harsher sentance.

It completely irrational to even consider doing something as irresponsible and downright stupid as that on a plane in this day and age. Each to their own as far as beliefs go... but i wish some people would just keep them to themselves until asked!

Re: Re: Re: Pilot terrifies passengers

WELL SAID!

some very good points, hwoever your arguement revolves around the belief that the human race should work together as one collective.

Although we are sociable beings we are not a unified collective, which is why religion is a far more pragmatic solution. Rather than working all our lives in the hope that we'll make it better for our comrades, we are dealt an instant reassurance that we're doing the right thing.

To expect man to work as a collelctive is asking a lot of him, but to expect him to work for himself is common sense.

I think communism can work, but I don't think it has to work as one giant collective... It is much better suited to smaller communities.

Good points.

I have missed having a good left winger around, all we have had of late is the left wing branding brigade.

iany-e goes.. intelligent conversation starts

coincidence?