Claims action is out of respect for
diverse religious beliefs

For the past thirty years Alaska
Airlines has placed a simple prayer card on the meal tray of passengers. Now Alaska Airlines has announced it will
discontinue this practice out of “respect for the diverse religious beliefs and
cultural attitudes of Alaska Airlines’ customers and employees.”

Alaska Airlines also notes that some
passengers preferred not to “mix religion with transportation.” So, the thirty-year tradition of the prayer
card will stop on February 1, 2012.

Of course we’re all familiar with the constitutional dictate of separation of church and travel.

In 2006 Alaska Airlines stopped meal
service in coach on flights under four hours in length. So since that time the
prayer cards have primarily gone to first class passengers.

The offending prayer cards that
endanger all freedom and any sense of tolerance known to man feature a short line
of scripture from Psalms set over a photograph of nature.

WARNING THE FOLLOWING SCRIPTURE MAY
OFFEND YOU

“Give thanks to the Lord for He is
good. His love endures forever.”

“I will be glad to rejoice in you; I
will sing praise to your name O most high.”

Pretty horrible stuff.

Alaska Airlines’ is trying as hard
it can to walk away from the prayer cards and to put as much distance as
possible between themselves and the Word of God.

Alaska Airlines’ spokespeople and
statements released from the company have gone to great lengths to promote the
notion that the prayer cards began as nothing more than a “marketing ploy.” The message being this was never about God; it
was about making money, so don’t think anyone at Alaska Airlines believes in
God.  (See Matthew 6: 24)

Bobbie Eagan, a spokesperson for
Alaska Airlines, pushes the narrative that the “marketing ploy” was merely a
good way for Alaska Airlines to distinguish itself from its competitors.

So, thirty years ago God was good for business,
and today God most definitely is not.  This says far more about our culture
than it does Alaska Airlines.

To prevent anyone making the horrific assumption that Alaska Airlines might be some secret bastion of Godly people, the company
adds that the idea of the prayer cards was not even their own, they stole it
from another airline. 

Alaska Airlines would rather be perceived as unimaginative thieves than as Christians.

Isn’t tolerance grand?

The problem began, as usual, when a
vocal minority complained about the cards.
“After carefully considering all sides, it was agreed that eliminating
the cards was the right thing to do,” Eagan said.

“Religious beliefs are deeply personal and
sharing them with others is an individual choice,” said an email signed by both
airline CEO Bill Ayer and President Brad Tilden. “It is important that everyone know that this
decision does not change our core values nor our care for our customers.”

Ayer and Tilden are selling the
notion that they have core values, but not faith.

At least one Alaska Airlines’
frequent flier does not like the change, “It seems astonishing that someone
would be offended by a simple prayer card placed on an airline’s meal tray, but
I guess that’s the politically correct world we live in now,” said former
Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.  “We don’t call for censorship – at least I
don’t. So, why in this day and age must every reference to faith in God be censored
from the public square?”

It’s a good question.

In the name of tolerance, intolerance against
Christians is rampant. I remember when my son was in elementary school in the Cy-Fair Independent School
District, and he came home with the annual calendar.

For December the calendar
showed Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Winter Break.  This is what public schools and our leaders and our
businesses (Alaska Airlines, for example) are now teaching us passes for
tolerance and inclusion.

It is not possible to be inclusive
through exclusion, and tolerance cannot be fostered by intolerance. Eventually
it can lead to the kind of persecution that grows beyond words, and business
posturing to become something much, much worse.

Mention that all the 9-11 terrorists were Muslim and you’re a xenophobe, bigot, ignorant, hate-filled and intolerant of the beliefs of others.

Remove all Christian language, imagery and expression from schools, public places, and private businesses, and you’re striking a blow for tolerance. 

Our society has abandoned God, and Christians are silent, shrugging and going along to get along. 

II Timothy 3:1-5,7
“But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will
come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money,
boastful, arrogant, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful,
unholy, unloving, unforgiving, malicious gossips, without
self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless,
conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of god; holding to
a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; always
learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

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About Ethan Edwards

Ethan Edwards is the Senior Writer for
TheCypressTimes.com.

Edwards’ work focuses on topics ranging from
Christian opinion, national news, world news,
Christian Persecution and politics.

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