Jewish man removed from airplane for praying

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

The man was a passenger on a Sept. 1 flight from Montreal to New York City when the incident happened.

The airplane was heading towards the runway at the Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport when eyewitnesses said the Orthodox man began to pray.

"He was clearly a Hasidic Jew," said Yves Faguy, a passenger seated nearby. "He had some sort of cover over his head. He was reading from a book.

"He wasn't exactly praying out loud but he was lurching back and forth," Faguy added.

[...]

The man, who spoke neither English nor French, was escorted off the airplane.

Air Canada Jazz termed the situation "delicate," but says it received more than one complaint about the man's behaviour.

The crew had to act in the interest of the majority of passengers, said Jazz spokeswoman Manon Stewart.

[...]

Jewish leaders in Montreal criticized the move as insensitive, saying the flight attendants should have explained to the other passengers that the man was simply praying and doing no harm.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/20...yeronplane.html

[Veiled Princess 1]

That's it... like in our schools.. NO MORE PRAYER ON PLANES!!!!

[Saddle Bronc 124]

That's it... like in our schools.. NO MORE PRAYER ON PLANES!!!!

Ya got the wrong country VP. Not a US issue.

Prayer (and scripture reading) in elementary schoos was allowed lots longer than in US (I remember at least till 1975, vs 1962 in US) but disappeared sometime after Pierre-eh decided to "patriate" the constitution.

Since Myron Baloney's time, Canada has gone all-out to be areligious (and calls it "secular muticulturalism").

:wacko:

[Fuzzness 2]

That's it... like in our schools.. NO MORE PRAYER ON PLANES!!!!

I don't seem to remember ever hearing about kids not being allowed to pray in school.

honestly i dont see what the issue is here. Air Canada handled this the wrong way.

[desert_fox 32]

Keep your praying at home or in your church, temple, synagoge, mosque, or wherever, or keep them to yourself. When Im on an airplane, I dont want to see anyone with a cross, star, bible, etc., carrying on in some foreign language praying to god, allah, jehovah, budda...no one!

Planes are to fly from point A to point B safely....we dont need religious fanatics praying or praising their deity, whoever that may be.

[UmmSqueakster 54]

[Alex+R 0]

Keep your praying at home or in your church, temple, synagoge, mosque, or wherever, or keep them to yourself. When Im on an airplane, I dont want to see anyone with a cross, star, bible, etc., carrying on in some foreign language praying to god, allah, jehovah, budda...no one!

Planes are to fly from point A to point B safely....we dont need religious fanatics praying or praising their deity, whoever that may be.

People get scared on planes. Planes are not public schools, courts, or anywhere else religion should rightly be kept out of.

Some Muslims and others have required times to pray. If the man wasn't bothering anyone (and I don't mean bothering in the sense that their own paranoid small-minded prejudice bothered them) then there is no reason he should have been stopped from praying.

It was his right.

[I'm Gone 60]

Keep your praying at home or in your church, temple, synagoge, mosque, or wherever, or keep them to yourself. When Im on an airplane, I dont want to see anyone with a cross, star, bible, etc., carrying on in some foreign language praying to god, allah, jehovah, budda...no one!

Planes are to fly from point A to point B safely....we dont need religious fanatics praying or praising their deity, whoever that may be.

Yep eat your peanuts and watch the movie or get some sleep. You only have permission to pray out loud if the pilot says you're going down.

[Not Available 0]

Keep your praying at home or in your church, temple, synagoge, mosque, or wherever, or keep them to yourself. When Im on an airplane, I dont want to see anyone with a cross, star, bible, etc., carrying on in some foreign language praying to god, allah, jehovah, budda...no one!

Planes are to fly from point A to point B safely....we dont need religious fanatics praying or praising their deity, whoever that may be.

Yep eat your peanuts and watch the movie or get some sleep. You only have permission to pray out loud if the pilot says you're going down.

God can still hear you if you pray in your head.

[desert_fox 32]

Keep your praying at home or in your church, temple, synagoge, mosque, or wherever, or keep them to yourself. When Im on an airplane, I dont want to see anyone with a cross, star, bible, etc., carrying on in some foreign language praying to god, allah, jehovah, budda...no one!

Planes are to fly from point A to point B safely....we dont need religious fanatics praying or praising their deity, whoever that may be.

People get scared on planes. Planes are not public schools, courts, or anywhere else religion should rightly be kept out of.

Some Muslims and others have required times to pray. If the man wasn't bothering anyone (and I don't mean bothering in the sense that their own paranoid small-minded prejudice bothered them) then there is no reason he should have been stopped from praying.

It was his right.

Like hell he does....sit there and keep quiet......scared???...dont fly...walk, drive, take a train, ride a mule, hop on a boat....but dont sit next to me on a plane ranting in some strange language. Id be the first to jump on him.

Edited September 6, 2006 by desert_fox

[sparkofcreation 0]

Keep your praying at home or in your church, temple, synagoge, mosque, or wherever, or keep them to yourself. When Im on an airplane, I dont want to see anyone with a cross, star, bible, etc., carrying on in some foreign language praying to god, allah, jehovah, budda...no one!

Planes are to fly from point A to point B safely....we dont need religious fanatics praying or praising their deity, whoever that may be.

People get scared on planes. Planes are not public schools, courts, or anywhere else religion should rightly be kept out of.

Some Muslims and others have required times to pray. If the man wasn't bothering anyone (and I don't mean bothering in the sense that their own paranoid small-minded prejudice bothered them) then there is no reason he should have been stopped from praying.

It was his right.

While I agree with your point, prayer is most certainly not (and should not be) "kept out of" schools and courts. I work in a courthouse, and people pray all the time. The difference is that they do it of their own free will, not because the judge is forcing them to, which would be illegal. Similarly, students are more than welcome to pray in school any time they want (assuming they're not disrupting class)--what's not allowed is for the teachers/staff, or those same students for that matter, to force other people to pray. But neither is it allowed for judges or teachers to prevent people from praying. (And yes, I know some schools have tried. They have across the board been duly smacked down by the courts, often after the ACLU filed a case in support of the students' right to religious freedom.)

This thread actually gives me heart: I was afraid that the same people who blamed a Muslim man for daring to pray on a plane the other day would come out in full support of the Jewish man who did the exact same thing. It's good to know that people are anti-religious bigots in general, not anti-Muslim bigots specifically. I think.

Edited September 6, 2006 by sparkofcreation

[sarah and hicham 3]

Keep your praying at home or in your church, temple, synagoge, mosque, or wherever, or keep them to yourself. When Im on an airplane, I dont want to see anyone with a cross, star, bible, etc., carrying on in some foreign language praying to god, allah, jehovah, budda...no one!

Planes are to fly from point A to point B safely....we dont need religious fanatics praying or praising their deity, whoever that may be.

People get scared on planes. Planes are not public schools, courts, or anywhere else religion should rightly be kept out of.

Some Muslims and others have required times to pray. If the man wasn't bothering anyone (and I don't mean bothering in the sense that their own paranoid small-minded prejudice bothered them) then there is no reason he should have been stopped from praying.

It was his right.

Like hell he does....sit there and keep quiet......scared???...dont fly...walk, drive, take a train, ride a mule, hop on a boat....but dont sit next to me on a plane ranting in some strange language. Id be the first to jump on him.

Ahhh yes it is so refreshing to see someone who is so open and accepting of people from different backgrounds, culture, religion, and political views.

PSYCH!

What you said actually makes me very sad.

[ceriserose 1]

Keep your praying at home or in your church, temple, synagoge, mosque, or wherever, or keep them to yourself. When Im on an airplane, I dont want to see anyone with a cross, star, bible, etc., carrying on in some foreign language praying to god, allah, jehovah, budda...no one!

Planes are to fly from point A to point B safely....we dont need religious fanatics praying or praising their deity, whoever that may be.

People get scared on planes. Planes are not public schools, courts, or anywhere else religion should rightly be kept out of.

Some Muslims and others have required times to pray. If the man wasn't bothering anyone (and I don't mean bothering in the sense that their own paranoid small-minded prejudice bothered them) then there is no reason he should have been stopped from praying.

It was his right.

While I agree with your point, prayer is most certainly not (and should not be) "kept out of" schools and courts. I work in a courthouse, and people pray all the time. The difference is that they do it of their own free will, not because the judge is forcing them to, which would be illegal. Similarly, students are more than welcome to pray in school any time they want (assuming they're not disrupting class)--what's not allowed is for the teachers/staff, or those same students for that matter, to force other people to pray. But neither is it allowed for judges or teachers to prevent people from praying. (And yes, I know some schools have tried. They have across the board been duly smacked down by the courts, often after the ACLU filed a case in support of the students' right to religious freedom.)

This thread actually gives me heart: I was afraid that the same people who blamed a Muslim man for daring to pray on a plane the other day would come out in full support of the Jewish man who did the exact same thing. It's good to know that people are anti-religious bigots in general, not anti-Muslim bigots specifically. I think.

Does it necessarily follow that someone who is anti-religious is a bigot?

Anyway, I suspect that many people in mainstream religions would be uncomfortable with people of a pagan religion worshipping the deity of their choice as they are proscribed to do. (*waits for the comments on nudity*) However if it's good enough for Muslims/Jews/Christians, etc. then it should be good enough for anyone who feels it their religious right.

And as I said on the Muslim thread, I don't care what anyone does on a plane, provided it doesn't inconvenience me. (Specifically, don't stop the drink cart on its way to my seat nor block the aisle so I can't go pee. My needs are simple. )

[desert_fox 32]

[

Ahhh yes it is so refreshing to see someone who is so open and accepting of people from different backgrounds, culture, religion, and political views.

PSYCH!

What you said actually makes me very sad.

cry your heart out baby....

[UmmSqueakster 54]

If any good can come out of situations like this, it will to allow normally disparate groups to come together to fight for a common goal, and to create a positive impact.

Which reminds me of my senior year of college when the traveling fundies came to town, set up in the campus mall area and started haranging the student populus. An Armenian Orthodox classmate and I would team up and beat them down with superior biblical knowledge and history. It was fun

Edited September 6, 2006 by rahma