Unfamiliar Prayer Causes Scare in the Air

On Sunday, March 13, three Jewish business men were detained and questioned after their prayers and attire drew attention to flight crew and passengers. Upon liftoff from Mexico City to Los Angeles, the three businessmen began saying a prayer out loud in Hebrew, which no one on board recognized. This brought concern to the flight attendants. It was mentioned by the attendants that the men had straps tied to their bodies with what appeared to be boxes underneath their shirts. These boxes and leather straps turned out to be tefflillin, customary in Jewish prayers during the weekday. Each box holds a piece of scripture from the Torah.

After being met by law enforcement, FBI and Border Patrol Agents, and their items searched, the three men were released without any incident because there was never any threat to passengers or the aircraft. It was reported that the three men were very cooperative.

I can already see it now... people trying to ban prayer in airplanes or in public. Do you think that there should be restriction of speech on airplanes? Even though this scared people who were not familiar with the language, there was no legal "clear and present danger". It is illegal to say bomb or fire on a plane if there isn't one because that draws fear and panic, but what if it wasn't intentional? Should it still be restricted?

COMMENT! What do you think? Will someone try to make an issue out of this news story?

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