Posted on 12/20/2006 7:20:39 AM PST by mfnorman
A second airline is embroiled in a religious row after a stewardess decided to take bmi to an employment tribunal because it refused to allow her to carry a Bible on flights to Saudi Arabia.
The stewardess, who has not been named, claims that she has been subject to discrimination because of her faith.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Where it will end...
Saudi Arabia - Conversion by a Muslim to another religion is punishable by death. Bibles are illegal. Churches are illegal. It is punishable by death for a non-mulsim to enter the "holy" muslim cities of Medina and Mecca.
Yemen - Bans proselytizing by non-Muslims and forbids conversions. The Government does not allow the building of new non-Muslim places of worship.
Kuwait - Registration and licensing of religious groups. Members of religions not sanctioned in the Koran may not build places of worship. Prohibits organized religious education for religions other than Islam.
Egypt - Islam is the official state religion and primary source of legislation. Accordingly, religious practices that conflict with Islamic law are prohibited. Muslims may face legal problems if they convert to another faith. Requires non-Muslims to obtain what is now a presidential decree to build a place of worship.
Algeria - The law prohibits public assembly for purposes of practicing a faith other than Islam. Non-Islamic proselytizing is illegal, and the Government restricts the importation of non-Islamic literature for distribution.
Jordan - Has the death penalty for any Muslim selling land to a Jew.
Sudan - Conversion by a Muslim to another religion is punishable by death.
Pakistan - Conversion by a Muslim to another religion is punishable by death. Bans proselytizing by non-Muslims. Christians regularly put in prison for charges of blasphemy. Islam is the state religion, and in a court of law the testimony of a Christian carries less weight than that of a Muslim. Section 295(c) of the Penal Code calls for a death sentence for anyone who defiles the name of the Prophet Muhammad and requires the testimony of four Muslims for a conviction. This fosters an environment in which Muslims can feel free to use intimidation and violence against religious minorities for personal gain.
Qatar - Islamic instruction is compulsory in public schools. The government regulates the publication, importation, and distribution of non-Islamic religious literature. The government continues to prohibit proselytizing of Muslims by non-Muslims.
Malaysia - Under Malaysian law, any convert to Christianity must apply to a shariah (Muslim law) court to legally renounce Islam. Many Christians prefer to remain silent converts rather than take their battle to the shariah courts, where apostasy or conversion out of Islam is punishable by whipping, fines, imprisonment and--in the most extreme application--death.
The Maldives - In the island paradise visited by tens of thousands of tourists each year, Christianity is simply not tolerated. While local Christians – said to number around 300 out of a total population of 300,000 – do get together to worship, they do so at the risk of imprisonment or worse if discovered by the Muslim authorities. Bibles are banned, and tourists can be arrested for trying to bring them into the country.
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/hr/
If the stockholders had a back bone rather than a mindset of making $$$ over any moral values then bmi would cancel all flights to Saudi Arabia. If all airlines refused to fly there, they'd have to reconsider the law. Of course, that'll never happen.
On the other hand, if they allowed her to carry a Bible into a country, where it is expressly illegal to do so, and she was then arrested and punished, would she then have sued her airline for letting her do so?
Sounds to me that a case could be made that they were protecting her.
I wonder if she would feel the same about her Congressional district boundries? Say they started throwing in a few thousand ballots from a neighboring Republican dominated district (I am assuming she is a Dem).
"On the other hand, if they allowed her to carry a Bible into a country, where it is expressly illegal to do so, and she was then arrested and punished, would she then have sued her airline for letting her do so?"
It seems that international airports would have some sort of deal where they were international ground and subject to special laws or something weird like that. Similar to the UN building in NY.
Strangely, I've never had the urge....
Just screw the Islamic and Muslim countries. This country, if it had ANY backbone, would make any form of Islamic propoganda, like the Koran, and any mosque or Islamic gathering place ILLEGAL. If it had any backbone -- the Arabs would get dealt exactly what they deal out.
The pandering of this country is sickening....Christians and Jews get urinated upon all over the stone age Arab and Islamic world AND WE JUST TAKE IT.
I believe that one is not considered to be "in" a country until you clear customs. Thus if she was on a 'turn-around' and not staying, she would be OK. However, if she flew in from London, she would not be on a turn-around and would have to clear customs.
You are more logical than most.
Oh cut it out...
If they were trying to protect her they wouldn't by flying into that arm pit of a nation.
Why not have it both ways? Let the crews volunteer to work the flights to Saudi, then those who choose to do so would not have a problem and BMI would still make money.
Thanks
Of course, if Saudi Arabia wanted to be polite and diplomatic, they could at least consider the possibility of granting the occasional exception for foreign workers required to travel there to bring a personal Bible, provided that they swear not to engage in proselytizing or anything of that nature. After all, we're "friends"!
But I suppose that would be too much to expect of a country with a 14th century mindset. And besides, we wouldn't want to risk disrupting that oil flow, would we.
Sorry, the Flight attendent knows the rules, no one "forced" her to fly there. She could have declined the route, then if BMI fired her she would have a case and my support, 100%.
I agree. We ban people from Europe from smoking on planes now if they are headed to the US, even though smoking is legal in their countries. It's illegal on our flights though. Oh well.
If you want to carry your bible, don't go to a repressive tin pot dictator ruled islamic fiefdom. Period. We btw should stop supporting the house of Saud, but that is another point.
They are free to have their laws. We are free to boycott them. It's the free market.
It's time to choose virtue over $$$$. Cut off flights to the these Islamic-Nazi governments.
The Islamics always whine that we are not tolerant of their religion.
It's always been my position that we should be tolerant of Islam.
Just as tolerant as the Islamic countries are of other religions, especially Christianity.
We should allow as many Mosques in the USA that ME (and other Muslim) countries allow in their areas.
So lets start searching Mosques in the USA and take the weapons and bombs and close the mosques down, until we have one for each Church in their countries. Ti* for tat.
She can't even carry a bible?
She should fill her luggage with 'em.
Exactly. Years ago I turned down a promotion that would have moved my family and I to the mid east. The money was not worth it, even as much as it was. Call it my own personal boycott.
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