Yesterday morning, I spotted an article in The Globe and Mail which related the story of a pilot on a flight from Los Angeles to New York. Instead of the usual good morning greeting over the intercom, he proceeded to ask all the Christians on board to identify themselves, and to talk about their spiritual life to those on board who were not Christian (or words to that effect...I'm paraphrasing).
Needless to say, when I read that many passengers reached for their cell phones to phone the authorities and report that a religious fanatic was flying their plane, all I could think of was "I would get off that plane RIGHT NOW!"
I'm so sick of certain hypocritical elements of American society, especially when it comes to religion. There are those who will fan the flames of intolerance and prejudice, when they speak against fundamentalist Muslims,without a second thought. Yet there seems to be a blind spot when it comes to zealous, fundamentalist Christians. What gives them exclusive rights to preach and judge and bash Joe Public over the head with their beliefs? Are they any less dangerous than someone who belongs to Islamic Jihad? And before someone writes in to complain, I'm not comparing them to suicide bombers...yet. But let's keep one thing in mind: Timothy McVeigh proved that you don't have to be a dark skinned, non-Christian from the Middle East in order to drive a truck up to a government building and blow it off the face of the Earth
Can he be called a Christian terrorist? I'm not sure I honestly know the answer...but I'm afraid for the day when this will no longer be just a question...and George Bush isn't exactly the poster boy for the kind of tolerant society needed to avoid all this. If anything, another article in The Globe and Mail demonstrated that Prime Minister Paul Martin was also quite taken aback by the President's religious zealousy during their first meeting. If the leader of the free world is just another example of the same zealouness displayed by the LA to NY pilot, then we're in for a bumpy ride.
A stand up comedian once said "Born again is simply an excuse for not growing up." I'm inclined to agree...let's hope it never goes further than that.
