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Apparently, atheism does not foster good behavior.
Who knew?
Today’s militant atheists are not content to believe in their own unbelief. They want to punish
others who do not share their beliefs.
Consider the man at Laguardia Airport who was boarding a
plane to Dallas yesterday.
The New York Post picks up the story:
The man
was waiting to board American Airlines Flight 1140 to Dallas when a cheerful
gate agent began welcoming everyone with the Yuletide greeting while checking
boarding passes.
The
grumpy passenger, who appeared to be traveling alone, barked at the woman, “You
shouldn’t say that because not everyone celebrates Christmas.”
The
agent replied, “Well, what should I say then?”
“Don’t
say, ‘Merry Christmas!’ ” the man shouted before brushing past her.
Once on
the plane, he was warmly greeted by a flight attendant who also wished him a
“merry Christmas.” That was the last straw.
“Don’t
say, ‘Merry Christmas!’ ” the man raged before lecturing the
attendants and the pilot about their faux pas.
The
crew tried to calm the unidentified man, but he refused to back down and
continued hectoring them.
He was
escorted off the plane as other fliers burst into cheers and applause.
To be fair, we do not know, from the story that the man was
an atheist. Perhaps he was a follower of a non-Christian religion.
If so, his religion does not teach him to respect other
people’s beliefs. It seems to teach that people who say “Merry Christmas”
should be punished for offering good cheer on the holiday.
For my part, I suspect that the man was a militant atheist.
If he had been a member of another religion, the Post would probably have said
so.
No one can say how common this attitude is, but today’s
militant atheists often take severe offense at any expression of religious
belief.
Apparently, “do unto others” does not belong to the atheist
canon.
10 comments:
Americans are notably Christian. When in America, do as the Americans do.
Assimilation. Integration. Reconciliation.
Perhaps the man has an ulterior motive to be grumpy.
Merry Christmas!
The problem for atheists, is that their faith is diametrically opposed to Christian faith, as well as Jewish faith, etc. They have a disposition to replace God with mortal gods, often indulging in left-wing ideology, which explains why atheists often run amuck. The safe alternative to theism is agnosticism, not atheism. It is irrational and unproductive to make affirmative statements about universal phenomenon, let alone extra-universal phenomenon, both which exist outside the scientific domain.
Yes Virginia,
There is a Stuart Schneiderman! Thank God! he lives and he lives forever!
Merry Christmas Dr. Schneiderman and thank God I have the gift of recovering from Atheism.
IMO, militant atheists are cultural Marxists.
Because Marxism is at its core a drive for coercive, totalitarian power, it opposes competing centers of social and political influence.
I'm reminded of the saying about environmentalists: they're like watermelons... you don't have to scratch away very much green until you hit red.
I'm allowing for the possibility that some militant atheists are merely exhibitionists who see a chance for moral grandstanding because they perceive they have the cultural zeitgeist in their favor. These folks are like the ones who will kick your car windows out if they see you dog inside, even though you have only been away from the vehicle for a moment.
The issue is not necessarily atheism, since people of various faiths will indulge in narcissism. The issue, as when Jews once abandoned God, in favor of material fulfillment, is an unbridled human ego. This is promoted by universalist ideologies and centralized planning schemes.
It's not a coincidence that atheism is characteristic of left-wing regimes; but, it is also not a coincidence that Catholics have on occasion ran amuck. Islam is a special case, in that it is a universalist church, that directs its followers to convert or subdue people through any means necessary.
That said, these are all competing interests. It is in their interest to marginalize the competition, which in America is principally Protestant Christians. So, they mock a competing faith, while failing to acknowledge their own. They adopt a perverse religion (i.e. moral philosophy), while simultaneously criticizing other religions. They use the state to establish a church (i.e. organized faith and religion), while litigating and shaming others from doing the same.
Anyway, it's a choice. Judge the value of the faith and religion by the principles they engender. Enjoy the traditions when they do not violate the principles, and especially when they promote them.
re: American Airlines did not return a request for comment.
Perhaps it is a made-up story, but the NYPost would never do that, right?
Anyway, not a a single identified person to this righteous tale of holiday spirit, oops, I mean christmas spirit.
Searching for "American Airlines Flight 1140", looks like its today's flight, right about now, while the NYPost article is from 14 hrs ago.
Departed New York City,
Thursday, December 25
Scheduled 5:30 PM Terminal Gate
5:31 PM B D7
Arrives Dallas,
Thursday, December 25
Time Terminal Gate
8:40 PM A A13
The NYP story says this happened Tuesday: "A passenger was tossed off a plane at La Guardia Airport on Tuesday after flipping out — because airline workers wished him a merry Christmas."
p.s. Looks like "Flight 1140" is a regular route rather than a specific flight. So no contradiction in the story.
For me it's still anonymous hearsay. But if feeling good about real or imagined grumpy people getting their due punishment is your goal, the NY Post delivers. Who doesn't want to hear about ungrateful people getting what they deserve?
For me the more interesting "Christmas carol" story is redemption of the cold heart, but revenge works too I guess. You never know what good you can do by standing up to people who are asking for it. We'll just pretend the ghosts came to him in the night and straighted him out.
http://info.flightmapper.net/flight/American_Airlines_AA_1140
Tue 17:45 La Guardia, New York (LGA) B 20:40 Dallas/Ft. Worth (DFW)
AA 1140 Non-stop Boeing 737-800 (738) 3:55 Effective 2015-04-07 through 2015-09-29
I found one "freethought" blog, also skeptical of the story's details.
http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/2014/12/a-christmas-morality-play/
It does remind me of the Three sieves of Socrates, not that Newspapers would last more than 2 weeks on this cautious advice.
http://www.rabbiweisz.com/divrei-torah/dvarim/socrates-three-filters-test-and-the-three-weeks/
1. Is it true?
2. Is it good?
3. Is it necessary?
If its a morality play, explaining why we should be kind not not rude, then perhaps we can pass test 2, even if it is a fabrication?
The question of necessity always annoyed me because technically almost no communication short of "Stop" upon imminent danger is strictly necessary.
So I'm willing to surrender test 3, and I'm willing to surrender test 1, on the condition the story begins with "Once upon a time..." and then we can do all our morality tales in sincere earnestness, and no one will bother fact checking before they decide if we'd never do anything so rude.
But still the story might be mostly true, and not doctored up like the fish that got away.
Still, it is curious such a short article has three authors.
I'm always curious, but really I guess I don't want to be manipulated in my feelings, so that explains my caution.
Really I see I dislike speculations that he was an declared atheist, militant or whatever, not because I am one, or because he's not, but because the suggestion suggests atheists are people who are disrespectful, and by impication will earned whatever spite or malice we occassionally feel when we need a scapegoat and don't have our own self control in order.
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