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 Alaska Airlines distributed prayer cards like these on flights for more than 30 years.
January 26th, 2012
04:21 PM ET
Alaska Airlines ends prayer cards on flightsBy Aaron Cooper, CNN (CNN) - Passengers on Alaska Airlines will no longer get a free Psalm with their meal. On Wednesday, the airline announced it is ending its more than 30-year tradition of including printed cards with short Bible verses during meal service. “I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing praise to your name O most high,” was written on one card, over an image of foggy blue mountains. Another card featured these words over a beach at sunset: "Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever.” The cards have been distributed on trays with Alaska Airlines meals since the 1970s, according to airline spokeswoman Bobbie Egan. Since 2006, only passengers in First Class on longer Alaska Airlines flights have been served meals, so only a small percent of passengers received a card. “This difficult decision was not made lightly,” the airline’s top executives said an email to frequent passengers. “We believe it's the right thing to do in order to respect the diverse religious beliefs and cultural attitudes of all our customers and employees.” “We also know some of you consider the cards to be a tradition that reflects your own spiritual beliefs,” the email said. “At the same time, we've heard from many of you who believe religion is inappropriate on an airplane, and some are offended when we hand out the cards.” Kathy Hosford, of Dyea, Alaska told CNN Affiliate that ““I take the time to read them. It really tells me the airline cares about the people sitting there.” Others disagree. “Religious attitudes do vary,” Egan says, and “a large percent of residents in markets that we do serve on the West Coast say religion is not important to them.” “We have been keeping track over the recent years and we are receiving more complaints than compliments” says Egan. Between 1998 and 2002 they received 242 complaints and 141 compliments about the cards. The idea to distribute the cards in the first place came from a marketing executive who borrowed the idea from another carrier as a way to differentiate Alaska’s service, according to the airline’s statement. But that view has now changed. “A business that aspires to be diverse and inclusive shouldn't have a religious agenda. Religious beliefs are deeply personal and vary greatly among our customers” Egan said in an emailed statement. The decision to eliminate the cards was made last fall, she says, and takes effect on February 1. No decision yet about what to do with the leftovers. soundoff (2,364 Responses)« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 Next »
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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"Let your light so shine before men that they my see your good works and glorify the Father in heaven." Unfortunately, I haven't used Alaska Airlines. You should have continued to distributed the cards to everyone and not just first class. Remember, planes do fall. Who will you call on when the plane is falling?
no one since the plane is going to crash regardless if you call on anyone.
I really hate flying, and the last time I ran into turbulence so bad that everyone on the plane started freaking out, I mostly clutched the handrests and hoped it would be quickly OVER, one way or another. I didn't think about praying to anyone to be saved, I just concentrated on not making the situation worse by freaking out.
Who will you call on when the plane is falling?
The pilot. Hopefully he isn't spending his time reading religious cards.
Or drunk. Please let the pilot be sober.
I always thought this was more marketing than anything overtly religious – I'm sure the real reason Alaska is cutting the cards isa to save money in the long haul. Also, in-flight meal service is becoimng a thing of teh past rapidly.
I think you're right, it really does come down to cost savings/figuring out what will allow the most customers.
I hate all religion, including atheism !
aren't we all so smart and full of ourselves
here is what I don't understand. These little cards are for people to essentially "pray". Those that are already christian do this, and those that are not don't. Who are the cards for? The faithful who don't need the cards since they already prey? It seems to me it is an advertising method geared towards the faithless, AKA.. those who don't WANT to pray. And when we say we DONT want to pray... The Faithful tell us to stop complaining and suck it up?
We need to suck up you forcing your faith on to us while we are physically stuck with you over 20,000 feet in the air?
If not Christian at the very least it is obnoxious.
I see your point, but in the interest of Freudian amusement I have to point out the 'prey' part. LOL
typo.. but yes it is indeed funny.
I loved it. Sorry for hijacking your post, LOL
Madalyn Murray O`Hair – the founder of American Atheist – the most hated woman that got rid of prayers from public schools thru a law sue – got murdered by another Atheist. LOOOOOOL this just proof how dumb cr^p Atheists are!!!
A doctor who performed abortions was shot to death by a Christian
your move
Try reading your own book lady. Atheists have existed since the first time someone suggested there might be a god.
Or that humans in general are jerks with their own agendas, for the most part, no matter what they believe or don't. You're already prone to leaps of faith, I guess, so have at it...
I'll take that one Hooligan....the doctor killed thousands.
you can take it all you want.. in a court of law he was legally allowed to help with those abortions.. in a court of law the christian was NOT allowed to kill another man.
your move again
Faith,
The biggest loss of American lives in any war came from the Civil War where Christians killed Christians.
Oooooops.
70+% of abortions in the USA are had by believers.
Irony hurts.
“that got rid of prayers from public schools”
Typical spoiled brat Christian over exaggerating again. What she got rid of was organized, forced, mandatory prayers to the Christian god. But then you probably believe that forcing people to pray to your god is a good idea. Any student or teacher can pray all they want in school they just can’t make a big deal about it. Besides, your god must be some kind of wimp if a single law can cancel all of the prayers of his faithful
I believe in cause and effect.
So, If God loves us, why would he send us to hell for not following religious rules? Why would God want to be worshiped anyway? Are all religious people good and all non-religious people bad? Why would God frequently intervene frequently 2K years ago and only appear in grilled cheese sandwiches today? Etc, etc.
Please give us all a favor... take your physcho pill and take a nap
Faith, adding 'is important' to your original handle doesn't hide you very well, especially when you're using the same rhetoric about pills that you were before. You look silly. And like a n00b.
These are important questions and these topics are discussed in the website chabad.org. Please take a look there.
now i might consider flying them - i dont go to In and Out burger beacuse of their religious junk on the cups either
I hope the airplane will be full of atheist passangers and pilots, and God will punish all of you and the airplane will crash 😀
At least she finally learned how to spell crash....
Faith:
Science builds airplanes.... Religious nutjobs fly them into buildings....
Apparently, Alaska Airlines Flight 261 didn't have quite enough good Christian prayer onboard when it crashed. Or, was God calling all 88 of his children home? I love Christianity. If someone murders my wife, it's because God wanted her to "come home." If she survives an attempted murder, it's because of God, the strength of prayer, and so on.
How can you people swallow this baloney?
I'm looking for the "like" button, dewed... I couldn't agree more!
People can justify just about anything if they try hard enough.
people who believe in absurdities commit atrocities
I had an Atheistic bumber sticker and lasted only for less than an hour at the local mall in 'less religious' New Jersey. My car got key scratches all over, and someone removed the bumber sticker from my car. I was afraid to tell the mall that I had an bumber sticker saying there's no God 🙁
maybe god did it
I love the idea of God running around keying cars with bumper stickers He doesn't like. That would make a great SNL skit.
I love that atheists capitalize 'God' and show respect 🙂
Well, I see you're trying to get one over on me for it, but really, it's easy to treat God like a proper name; same I would for Zeus or Allah or Yahweh, since by just typing 'god' I could be speaking of any god in general, instead of specifying the Judeo-Christian/Abrahamic God.
John,
Please take a basic elementary school class in English and learn about proper nouns, you know, like Charles Manson.
Freedom from religion is equally important as freedom of religion.
You all sound so full of anger and spite. Why is that? Is that part of aetheism?
After all the other stuff posted on the last few pages, you think willie's post is mean? It's the calmest, most fact based thing I've seen on here yet. Faith...you're an idiot.
A perfect example of how religion damages ones ability to see reality. All I stated was freedom from your beliefs is my right. I never said anything with anger or spite. I feel sorry for people like you.
And you still can't spell...Jesus Christ!!
Have you ever had any hardships in your life? ever lost a loved one? ever experienced a tragedy?
willie. religion DEFINITELY damages ones ability to see. We got athiests all over spending money on billboards saying 'god doesnt exist' instead of seeing that their money could feed the hungry.
of course I have, I am human after all. The difference is I seek to understand the mysteries of life rather than simply chalking it up to gods will, whatever that is.
I think Faith's point about having suffered tragedy is that it's either supposed to show you how god can help, or....it's because he punished you for something. Faith, I wish there was a heaven and a loving god like my mom believed, because she deserves that. Sadly, the fact is that she snapped off like a light one evening, and she has not gone anywhere, because there's nowhere to go. At least she isn't suffering...that's the part that really counts.
booboo,
Which side has spent FAR FAR FAR more on advertizing their side? Believers or atheists?
Welcome back to the REAL world.
What do aetheists believe?
They believe in spelling things correctly.
Atheism is more than just the knowledge that gods do not exist, and that religion is either a mistake or a fraud. Atheism is an att.tude, a frame of mind that looks at the world objectively, fearlessly, always trying to understand all things as a part of nature part of nature. Carl Sagan
Atheists don't need to believe in anything. The moment of belief is the same moment that your mind shuts off and simply accepts something you wish to be true. I feel it is better to keep learning and eventually find understanding. Much more useful than mindless belief.
That religious people are stupid and can't spell.
An Atheist believes that a hospital should be built instead of a church. An Atheist believes that a deed must be done instead of a prayer said. An Atheist strives for involvement in life and not escape into death. He wants disease conquered, poverty vanished, war eliminated.
What we honestly discover. What do you believe that hasn't only come from someone else?
The answer to your question is simple "Faith."
Atheists, for the most part, believe that whatever it is that led to the Big Bang and our subsequent creation is an UNKNOWN and therefore unknowable. And if it is "unknowable" then no one group has any business claiming exclusive rights to this unknown even to go as far as to characterize it and name it. This is absurd! In a nutshell, atheists (the smart ones, anyhow) believe that claiming exclusive knowledge of the supernatural (the unknown) is DISHONEST therefore religion is dishonest.
Logan, you couldn't be more wrong. Do you honestly think all atheists believe in the big bang theory? Open your eyes and see young one.
it all depends on what denomination of athiesm they are. Ive seen some athiests fight each other over ideas (example: one guy said he had faith in his wife, and the other guy said faith doesnt exist..like at all) and they went at it. I think most athiests dont even understand what they believe, its just a trendy way to go because they think it makes them look "logical".. i say "live long and prosper, oh athiestic wizards!"
ha ha.. so bills post up there about the big bang theory is just proving my point.. theyre all so arrogant they also assume all athiests believe what they do.. what a bunch of maroons...
booboo, your name is very appropriate. Before commenting on someone else' post perhaps you should try reading it first. Maroon is a color.
Willie, if you're still there, as you're discovering all the mysteries of life, don't discount Christianity. Everything in life is a mystery. Use your curiosity and passion to learn about it as you learn about all other mysteries. Give it a chance. Wouldn't hurt:):):):) Good Night and God bless..........................
“What do aetheists believe?”
That’s the whole point, we don’t
I flew on Alaska Airlines and appreciated not only the service but the prayer card that was included with our meal. I actually kept the prayer card and have it in my souvenier book about that trip. Sorry to see something like this eliminated.
You are sorry to see them eliminate these cards but are you also sorry for the blatant disrespect these cards dealt to those cash paying customers of Alaska Airlines who were not Christian or who were atheist. The word "empathy" comes to mind.
hey logon. i seriously doubt it was as massive of an infringement of ones sanity as you state. jeesh some people are so fuzzy around the navel.. chill out.. ha ha
I appreciate that a commercial enterprise would do something like that, but at the same time (even though I am an evangelical Christian), the last thing I would want get handed upon boarding a plane is a prayer card 🙂
Deplaning is a different matter, that would be fine.
If I was handed a prayer card with my in-flight meal, I'd probably puke everything I ate onto the floor. What a miserable thing to do to a captive audience.
Based on how bad airplane food tends to be, that was likely a foregone conclusion.
oh my god, are you serious? you better grow a thicker skin or your not gonna make it too much further in life.. a prayer card on a plane makes you puke? god forbid your boss ever yells at you or some old lady shoots you a bird.. ha ha!!! oh my goodness..
Prayer changes...
The belief that a cosmic Jewish zombie can make you live forever if you accept a blood sacrifice and symbolically eat his flesh and drink his blood, and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a woman made from a rib was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree: makes perfect sense
Let us pray:
Oh lord please save us from your followers....
Amen
God please save us from people who think they're doing God's work...
martin. ive seen your post with the whole cosmic zobie and eating flesh thing like millions of time.. wow, talk about sheep following the crowd. dont you have an intelligent original thought in your head about religion or the person known as jesus? you are content with just copying and pasting the same old rhetoric over and over and over again?
booboo, I thought you were busy living in the light of God's love every day of your life. Does He want you here posting this stuff endlessly? Is that His plan for you?
hey sam.. that actually makes me feel good man. Im glad you took that post to heart. i know you're hungry for it, some of what i got over here in the light.. wish you were here for me to put my arm around you and tell you not to worry about your mom.. that stuff will work itself out and shell be fine; you guys have been through worse. you guys just stick together.. you know what i mean 😉
::sigh:: booboo, of course she's ok. She's no longer in a dying body. Beyond that, I've got no idea what's after, no control of it, and therefore can't do much more but be sentimental enough to hope her beliefs were true in her case because I wanted the best for her beyond my own ability to reason, and the best in her case was whatever gave her peace. It's a standard human reaction.
Strap the atheists to the wing. Not enough of them....their opinion is moot.
Spoken like a true bigot. Does it really matter whether we believe in God or not? No it doesn't affect anyone around you unless you shove it in their face, I am a Christian myself and I hate people like Tim Tebow because of how he flaunts it in front of everyone and those people that leave fake $10 prayer cards as tips are only distancing people away from Christ. People will seek God in their own way. If you force feed the idea to people and expected it to grow in to belief you are sadly mistaken.
I don't get it. Humans of any faith/lack of faith are not aerodynamic. Was this joke funny in your bible study class?
Won't you have to answer to Jesus for your hateful comment? No? Jesus would approve?!?
Strap atheists to the wing and ......what?? What were you trying to say?? LOL
Please my Lord Jesus Christ – forgive me for anything bad I have been saying – because I will and want to enter kingdom of heaven, unlike my follower Atheist friends who will not see paradise 🙁
I can't believe this fake Staring Horse was smart enough to spell 'tongue' correctly...hmm, must have been copy/paste.
Where's your evidence of this kingdom, and how do you know you have the right one?
Sam – LOL
That's right @Staring Horse with Tongue Stick Out
We atheists will not see paradise and neither will 1/2 of the human population which is over 3 billion people since a big chunk of humanity is NOT Christian. And they are not Christian because your god either wasn't smart enough or powerful enough to telepathically tell the other cultures on the planet around at the time about his existence. It seems he only told a tiny enclave in the Middle East. Hmmm....seems a bit suspect does it not??
Sorry Logan, that was not me. Just a stalker. I am an Athiest.
Thank you, Alaska, for stopping that crap but what took you so long?
Convert to Christianity or you will be sent to hell and suffer in +5000 degrees Fahrenheit
ditto...
you couldnt care less about alaska airlines or what they do.. youre just happy to have a reason to say 'crap'..