Posts by AlmostAtheist

the headline reads: "praying passenger is removed from plane" i figured it was some poor shmuck whose religion requires him to babble or mumble or something and someone smelled "terrorist".

but no, he was a just praying, maybe even quietly.

the problem was, he was standing at the back of the plane prior to take off, he had begun a prayer, and apparently was unable to stop once he starts.

The headline reads: "Praying passenger is removed from plane" I figured it was some poor shmuck whose religion requires him to babble or mumble or something and someone smelled "terrorist". But no, he was a just praying, maybe even quietly.

The problem was, he was standing at the back of the plane prior to take off, he had begun a prayer, and apparently was unable to stop once he starts. The flight attendants told him to take his seat, but he ignored them. When he finally became responsive again, they had him removed from the plane.

Article here: http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local&id=6087053 (link may get munged, copy and paste if so. [text at end of post])

So my question is, do you think the flight attendants were right to have him removed? Or should the whole thing sort of been "well, ok"'d and basically dropped?

I don't think I would've viewed the man as a threat. However he was breaking the law by disregarding the attendants. To just blow it off seems like an error to me. I'm not sure how I would've handled it, but I'm not at all dissatisfied with the flight attendants' response. I see it as a "breaking the law" issue, not a "prayer" issue. Exactly the same as if he'd been standing there reading and wanted to get to the end of the chapter before he sat down.

He was in the wrong.

Dave

Text of article:

NEW YORK (WABC) -- A passenger who left his seat to pray in the back of a plane before it took off, ignoring flight attendants' orders to return, was removed by an airport security guard, a witness and the airline said.

The Orthodox Jewish man, who wore a full beard, a black hat and a long black coat, stood near the lavatories and began saying his prayers while the United Airlines jet was being boarded at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Wednesday night, fellow passenger Ori Brafman said.

When flight attendants urged the man, who was carrying a religious book, to take his seat, he ignored them, Brafman said. Two friends, who were seated, tried to tell the attendants that the man couldn't stop until his prayers were over in about 2 minutes, he said.

"He doesn't respond to them, but his friends explain that once you start praying you can't stop," said Brafman, who was seated three rows away.

When the man finally stopped praying, he explained that he couldn't interrupt his religious ritual and wasn't trying to be rude. But the attendants summoned a guard to remove him, said Brafman, a writer who had been visiting New York to talk to publishers.

The plane, Flight 9 to San Francisco, took off without the man. It landed at its destination as scheduled, Brafman said by telephone from his home there.

Robin Urbanski, a spokeswoman for United Airlines, a subsidiary of UAL Corp. with headquarters in Chicago, confirmed the man was taken off the plane and put on another flight Thursday morning.

U rbanksi said flights cannot depart if all passengers are not in their seats, which risks a delay, and it is important that passengers listen to the instructions of the flight crew.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs area airports, and the Transportation Safety Administration, which handles airport security, said Thursday they weren't involved in the incident.

104

"....you people make my ass twitch..."

by wings in

from a movie.....any takers?.

i love movies, and i need a distraction.

any other movie lovers out there?

AlmostAtheist

>> Noone answered mine on page 3.

You mean the long one, with all the "f*cking" in it? One of the most visceral comedic scenes of Martin's career! Loved it!

(Hint: That was a hint)

Dave

49

I ATTENDED A JW FUNERAL YESTERDAY---WOW!

by Terry in

back in 1959 i became best friends with a fellow who was instrumental in my becoming a jehovah's witness.

yesterday i attended his mother's funeral.. from the time i was 12 years old i became a part of johnny's family and got to know his mother, jennie, very well.

in fact, she was more instrumental in convincing me there was intellectual merit to the reasoning process of consulting the bible and drawing jw conclusions than any of the arguments johnny and i had.. fast forward a bit.

AlmostAtheist

Poignant as always, Terry. Thanks for sharing this inner-moment.

Dave

18

I dont know what to do

by Ex-smoker in

jw
friends

ok so i was raised in the truth and a lot of jw belifes are indoctrinated in me(big suprize) the main ones being that the dead are conscies of nothing and that jesus is gods son and not god.

i never got baptized and at 17 i started to doubt all orginized religion but in the back of my mind saying that if theres no hell why serve god.

at 21 my life was a mess i was addicted to drugs and thought that it was satans system that was doing this to me and i should give the truth a chance again so i moved back home.

AlmostAtheist

>>But if i get baptized and dedicate myself to that manmade organization i'll be going against jesus.

I'm sorry you're going thru so much difficulty. The number one thing for you to avoid is getting baptized. They won't bulldoze you into it, though they will certainly guilt you and such. In the end though, you completely control that. So long as you're not baptized, you're in a decent position to stay more or less out of JW's and still stay in your family's life.

DON'T get baptized.

Welcome to JWD -- I hope you find some peace.

Dave

104

"....you people make my ass twitch..."

by wings in

from a movie.....any takers?.

i love movies, and i need a distraction.

any other movie lovers out there?

AlmostAtheist

104

"....you people make my ass twitch..."

by wings in

from a movie.....any takers?.

i love movies, and i need a distraction.

any other movie lovers out there?

AlmostAtheist

Saco - agree on the silent bob thing. He got tons of mileage out of his facial expressions, his gestures -- love that character! And that movie.

Dave

104

"....you people make my ass twitch..."

by wings in

from a movie.....any takers?.

i love movies, and i need a distraction.

any other movie lovers out there?

AlmostAtheist

>> >> "No ticket" and "Thanks"

>> This is harder than I thought....I need hints.

The character appears throughout the movie, but he only has those two lines.

Dave

29

Tribute to Mrs. Flipper - Happy Birthday to my Sweet Wife !

by flipper in

jw
friends

well my wife turned another year younger yesterday - had my son and his girlfriend visiting so i couldn't post too much as we were busy celebrating !

i can truly say that having been in a couple bad relationships years before i met mrs. flipper that being with her the last 2 years plus ( married year and a half now ) has been the happiest years of my life.

the positive energy and great hilarious humor she brings to my life is one of the magic formula's that help , i believe , a couple get through the stress of living in day to day life with the pressures we all face.

AlmostAtheist

Happy birthday, Mrs F!