There’s now, apparently, an epidemic of Christians who get on planes and begin preaching when they know they finally have a captive audience. Evangelist Whitney Lynn, one of the more notorious culprits of this, even said as much in a recent TikTok post: “I just love a captive audience.”
The fact that the sermons are unwanted doesn’t bother the evangelists at all because, for once, they have an audience that can’t walk away. And the hope that strangers might convert outweighs any concern that they’ll conclude Christians are lunatics.
There’s unfortunately very little airline staff can do to stop this. While there are rules regarding passengers who are disobedient or belligerent, preaching doesn’t necessarily cross a line. Flight attendants can politely ask them to stop, but I have yet to see any examples of plane preachers getting kicked off flights because they wouldn’t shut up.
Which means we’re just stuck with the possibility Christians may hijack a flight with their voices.
How is this not being belligerent? What if this was a MAGAt doing this (probably already is)?
If anything, this seems like a quick way for a fellow passenger to get annoyed and punch out the disruptive preacher. If this happened on a plane I was on, I'd clap for the person who decked the preacher. It really says something about how this "religion" is dying off if thos is a tactic they're resorting to.
*Edit: if I were the flight crew, I'd start by asking the passenger to sit down. If they didn't I'd warn the passenger with something like:
Ma'am, you are continuing to be being a disruption despite being told you knock it off. You can either sit down and be quiet, or you will be sat down and quieted. Please take your seat.
Then if they still insited, I'd either have an air marshall "take care of them" them, or I would.
I don't see what the fuss is about. It's nothing I and my trusted noise cancelling headphones can't handle.
Say that to the people within a few rows of the passenger. Also, while the headphones certainly muffle the noise, they aren't a COMPLETE cancelation. Also also, what if the batteries run out?
Maybe I was a bit flippant in my reply. If I was presented with this situation for real, I'm pretty sure I would find it annoying on principle. When running into such people in public spaces, one has the option to walk away. In public transport, especially long haul... not so much.
On the other hand, I did fly with crying kids and noisy adults in close proximity, and the headphones worked a treat. With music added, of course.
That's great for you. Quality noise canceling headphones are expensive. Not everyone has them, or travels with them.
Isn't it interesting how this person's comment is just "me me me" and "I I I"?
I just thought that was interesting.
This just isn't a problem because this person has noise cancelling headphones and they just can't understand what the big deal is.
"It doesn't affect me personally so..."
I'll just turn off my hearing aids, but the hearing without noise canceling headphones deserve a peaceful flight
Keep your religion between you and your God.
Totally agree.
Like I said elsewhere, my reaction was too flippant, and that's on me. I tend to ignore the preachy types wherever I run into them, and headphones are my golden standard on flights..