Satire: Flying while Christian

Stewardess banned from carrying Bible aboard flight to Saudi Arabia

By Douglas J. Hagmann

Thursday, December 21, 2006

On Monday, December 25, the Council Against Religious Exclusion (CARE), will hold a news conference at its world headquarters in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in reaction to what the civil rights group calls a "flying while Christian" incident involving the British airline carrier bmi. CARE, a soon-to-be prominent national Christian civil rights and advocacy group today called for congressional hearings on religious and ethnic profiling at airports as a Christian stewardess for British Airways, claimed discrimination because of her religious faith.

The Northeast Intelligence Network, having formed a human rights advocacy group known as CARE - an acronym for the Council Against Religious Exclusion, intends to petition the federal government - including Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi and Representative-elect Keith Ellison, bmi, the Vatican, and Saudi officials for what it believes is a "flying while Christian" incident.

WHAT: CARE Reacts to ban of Christian Bible from flight bound for Saudi Arabia (and potential desecration of Bible upon confiscation)

WHEN: Monday, December 25, 3 p.m. (Eastern)

WHERE: CARE's Bethlehem Headquarters, 100 Manger Street, Bethlehem, PA

CONTACT: CARE National Director Douglas J. Hagmann, E-Mail:director@homelandsecurityus.com

According to a December 20, 2006 article in The Telegraph, the stewardess, who has not been named, claims that she has been subject to discrimination because of her faith. She is understood to have deep religious convictions and carries a Bible with her at all times. Nonetheless, a spokesman for bmi, the only airline to fly to Saudi Arabia after British Airways cancelled its service to that country, said the airline was merely complying with Saudi law that bans the importation and use of narcotics, alcohol, pork products and religious books, except the Qu'ran. According to a Saudi spokesman, Saudi authorities would automatically confiscate a Bible from anybody trying to bring one into the country and it would not be returned.

CARE, hoping to become America's largest Christian civil liberties group and is searching for office space in at least 32 cities across the U.S. and Canada. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Christianity, encourage interfaith dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Christians, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.