maybe addressed already. the religious activity that bothers me is the foot washing. if 2 superliners arrive at once, 600 men have to wash their feet. they use the sinks (all three or six of them) in the men's washroom. just makes a big crowd.

other religions have rites, just not when i have to go to the bathroom.

a similar problem, although i think not religious, various young females will not use the bathrooms on planes. a couple 747's with 600 of them packed on board, and the terminal will block off the men's rooms in the area while they tinkle. takes about an hour for the men's rooms to get back to normal. i am certain this is also some form of religious rite.

Scientists proselytize too, not necessarily proselytizing just a traditional idea of religion.

I had one scientist try to convince me that being concerned about pollution from the ONG markets was an irrational concern. And yet there he was a supporter of all sorts of DHS/TSA nonsense because he was convinced that terrorists would otherwise get their way. :rolleyes:

"Turn the other cheek" as a uniquely Christian idea? The concept is not limited to Christianity.

Really? What other religions teach it?

Really. Is Google that hard to use? OMNI doesn't have a thread on this already? :D

Sikhism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism just to mention 4 of the 5 largest religions in a country that will soon be more populous than China -- the fifth religion (and fourth most common there) being Christianity.

Prayer in Lounge
 

I remember flying into Jeddah a few years back on Saudi Air from DBX. I was exhausted after the ATL-DBX leg, and my memory isn't 100% clear. But around 1 hour out, an announcement was made in Arabic, then in English, that we had "entered the (blah blah) zone". Soon thereafter, a group of approx. a dozen men on the left side of the aircraft who were on umrah began to loudly repeat an approx. 20 second long prayer and did so for perhaps 30 minutes. Didn't bother me (I found it rather soothing, frankly) and I later was told that it was a prayer asking for permission to visit Mecca.

Pacifism is not the exclusive province of christianity.

What has pacifism to do with, "turn the other cheek"? The suggestion was made that I "chill" when I am the target of someone's proselytizing. My preference, when confronted with rudeness and discourtesy, is to call the person out -- not beat them up. I also don't love my enemies. In fact, though most of what Jesus taught is, at least in my view, quite admirable, there's more than a little with which I don't agree.

Hmm, I never thought about what they would do on airplanes! I always assumed there was some kind of "if it is really going to mess up your day, you don't have to pray" clause :)
It wouldn't bother me either. I'm not religious, but to each their own...

I don't know about prayer, but there is a dispensation for travelers regarding Ramadan. That said, I have seen observant Muslims skip meals during daylight while traveling, even though they don't have to. Caused a bit of a challenge on one overnight transatlantic during high summer when sunset and sunrise were so close together. The Muslims in question did not ask for alternate meal times. The very kind FA quietly suggested that we keep our window-blinds closed in the morning so that they would get something to eat before they realized that (at least at 35,000 feet) the sun had already risen. Even though I am normally an open-blinds kind of person, I complied with the request.

Well, I never thought I would find so much intolerance on FlyerTalk!

I am an Orthodox Jew. Some may label me as being what they like to call 'Ultra-Orthodox'. Whatever.

Judaism has three prayers a day. Morning, afternoon and evening. There are set times for each of them. Not precise times, more time-slots really. When travelling it can be difficult to be in a suitable place to pray. Some prayers need to be said standing (although this is not essential when travelling, but most would therefore prefer to pray before boarding an aircraft).

All of the prayers may be said silently.

So what do I, as a seasoned traveller, do?

As mentioned earlier, there is a Synagogue in TLV. That helps. A 'non-denominational' prayer room is, unfortunately not acceptable, for reasons outside the scope of this posting.

I travel business class mostly. I get to use airline lounges. People do all kinds of things in these lounges, from drinking, eating, working, to talking loudly on their cellphones. Basically speaking, they usually relax or work.

If I am going to miss a prayer time slot due to a forthcoming flight, I will usually look for a relatively deserted part of the lounge. There is no point in potentially getting in other peoples' way or arousing unnecessary curiosity and/or worrying.

I have been travelling like this for some 20 years and have NEVER found anyone disturbed. Nobody has EVER asked me to go outside to pray. NEVER.

I think that so long as nobody is inconvenienced, there should not be any problem with anyone praying - indeed what could be wrong with "if simultaneously, Moslems, Jews, Hindus and Christians all began to pray" so long as they were all quiet.

Airline lounges may well be private clubs, but I have never come across any with a 'no praying' rule. Indeed, if I were ever to find such a lounge, I would make a point of avoiding flying with that airline due to its intolerance of other peoples' religious beliefs.

As an earlier poster pointed out:
"I find those worshiping the mighty cell phone god to be more disruptive"

I love the call to prayers over the loud speaker. It really is beautiful to hear.

It's called Smisekianism and it's a cult based in Chicago.

If you truly believe that science doesn't have "sides" you haven't been around scientists that much. Bitter rivalries are common in the scientific community.

The phrase is Christian and it came from Christ, but the concept is almost universal in religions.

Travellers are exempt from the specific timing of prayers.

Islam grants exemptions during Ramadan for travellers and for people with health conditions that would be affected by fasting.

Not when they're doing it at 5:00 AM and I'm trying to sleep.

:D

Now you've got me curious :) Why is a non-denominational prayer room not okay, while a non-prayer lounge is? (Not judging at all, just genuinely interested)