Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian
‘Airplane evangelists’ vs. ‘Sweet Caroline’

‘Airplane evangelists’ vs. ‘Sweet Caroline’

Last updated on: August 2, 2026 at 8:00 pm by Fred Clark

0 Comments

‘Airplane evangelists’ vs. ‘Sweet Caroline’ 2026-08-02T19:53:51-04:00 Fred Clark

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

OK, let’s talk about this “Christian preachers are turning airplanes into unwanted worship services“:

There’s now, apparently, an epidemic of Christians who get on planes and begin preaching when they know they finally have a captive audience. Evangelist Whitney Lynn, one of the more notorious culprits of this, even said as much in a recent TikTok post: “I just love a captive audience.”

But she’s hardly alone, according to travel reporter Hannah Sampson of the Washington Post:

There have been viral guitar-led worship services in the air, hours-long prayer and song sessions, and quick messages during a flight delay. Where some people see admirable boldness, many recoil at the thought of an unwanted sermon.

“That would be my nightmare,” someone wrote in response to an “open air airplane preaching” video posted on TikTok in June. “Can’t even walk away.”

“The way I would open that emergency exit,” another person wrote. Someone else weighed in: “This is why I drive.”

The fact that the sermons are unwanted doesn’t bother the evangelists at all because, for once, they have an audience that can’t walk away. And the hope that strangers might convert outweighs any concern that they’ll conclude Christians are lunatics.

There’s unfortunately very little airline staff can do to stop this. While there are rules regarding passengers who are disobedient or belligerent, preaching doesn’t necessarily cross a line. Flight attendants can politely ask them to stop, but I have yet to see any examples of plane preachers getting kicked off flights because they wouldn’t shut up.

Which means we’re just stuck with the possibility Christians may hijack a flight with their voices.

Can you even imagine sitting in a middle seat, on a delayed plane, near someone who wants to be the flight’s Main Character? You thought crying babies on a plane were annoying? They can’t control themselves. This grown-ass woman decided the one thing everyone needed to hear on a plane was her annoying voice preaching a message most people wouldn’t want to hear off the plane.

Hemant Mehta’s joke there about these airline “evangelists” desperately wanting to be “the flight’s Main Character” gets at one of the many reasons this is not “evangelism.” These folks like to pretend they’re standing up in front of their captive audience and proclaiming “Jesus Jesus Jesus,” but what they’re really doing is standing up and proclaiming “Me Me Me!”

This is more about hogging the spotlight than it is about sharing the gospel. It’s not about saving lost souls or making converts or helping others find faith, hope, and love. Whitney Lynn’s own TikTok videos make it clear that isn’t her aim. What she’s hoping for here — and attempting to produce — is hostility. She’s not preaching until her audience repents or until they find new hope and new life thanks to the grace of God. She’s trying to preach until at last she gets somebody to ask her to stop, at which point she’ll get to loudly proclaim herself to be the victim of “persecution.”

I’ve met street preachers who were ineffective and misguided, but still in earnest. These were people who truly believed that the “unsaved” were all headed to an eternity in Hell and they found that thought unbearable. They didn’t know how else to go about it, but they were genuinely, desperately trying to save people they were convinced needed saving.

I respect that motivation. That’s why I still have a soft spot for the fevered creators of the low-budget “Rapture” horror movies we watched in my church growing up. A Thief in the Night is a demented, traumatizing movie, but it was made by someone who was trying to scare people away from Tribulation and Hell. That was Donald W. Thompson’s message and his motivation: This is what I believe is going to happen to you, and I do not want this to happen to you.

In his own warped way, he cared about the people he was trying to “evangelize,” and he cared about what (he believed) would happen to them.

The contrast between that concern for others and the cackling triumphalism of Left Behind was one of the most appalling things I encountered in the World’s Worst Books. The message and motivation of those books is: This is what is going to happen to you and I can’t wait to see it because we’re right and you’re wrong and you’ll see and it’ll be too late! Neener neener neener!

That also seems to be the message and the motivation of most of these “airline evangelists.”*

So, given what Hemant says about how little there is that airline staff can do about these attention-hijacking anti-evangelists, what can be done?

I suggest singing.

It is surprisingly easy to get a group of strangers to sing together. It doesn’t require anybody to stand up and say “Hey, everyone, let’s all sing.” (That tends to be counter-productive.) It doesn’t require any attempt to persuade or convince.

All it usually takes to get a group of strangers to sing together is for someone to start singing. It doesn’t really matter what they start singing as long as it’s something everybody knows. And there are more songs than you might think that almost everybody knows, whether they want to or not.

When someone starts singing a song everybody knows, others start singing with them. Because it’s fun and because most people enjoy fun things. They certainly enjoy fun things more than they enjoy being forced to listen to a hostile evangelist gloating about their impending damnation.

It works something like this:

“Evangelist”: You are all sinners who deserve to suffer in Hell for eternity unless you listen to …

One Person: Where it began, I can’t begin to know it …

Evangelist [nervously, getting louder]: Unless you listen to me and …

Five people: Haaaands, touching haaaaands …

Evangelist: I will not be silenced! You must …

20 people: Touchin’ me, touching you.

Evangelist: [sits down]

Everybody: Sweet Caroline, Good times never seemed so good

This works. And not only when you’re flying out of Boston.

Update: “Annoying ‘Sky Evangelist’ kicked off airline after scaring everyone with her preaching.”

And also: “Annoying Florida Woman Preaches On Airliners, Gets Kicked Off, Seeks Martyrdom Or TV Gig”

She got what she was hoping for, now she can fundraise.

* I am convinced that many of the worst, most hostile forms of evangelism/proselytizing are deliberately intended to repel more than to invite. This is their only function, so it seems reasonable to assume that their only function and only consistent outcome must be deliberate and intentional. The goal of such “evangelism” is not to reach outsiders, but to bolster in-group solidarity by reaffirming the in-group/out-group boundary.

I also suspect that failed evangelism curdles into resentment. This happens especially when guilt is employed as a motivator for reluctant evangelists. “Your friends and neighbors are going to Hell and it’s all your fault because you didn’t evangelize!”

What may have begun as a genuine attempt at “outreach” driven by a sincere concern for the eternal fate of these strangers gradually turns first into a self-justifying reassurance that, “Well, at least I know I am not to blame for their damnation — I tried my best, but they just wouldn’t listen.” That rationalizes away the responsibility, but not the sense of guilt, and we humans begin to resent those who make us feel guilty. Thus “At least I’ll know I tried my hardest” turns into “Well fine then, if they won’t listen to me then I hope they enjoy an eternity in Hell!”

Evangelism is hospitality or it is nothing.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

July 31, 2026

LBCF: Fact and Fiction

Next Post

August 3, 2026 The usual suspects

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"Money. The first Halloween made a boatload of it, and it was a/the major player ..."

Vucodlak

LBCF: Body and Soul

"He doesn't believe women are actually intelligent, AFAICT."

P J Evans

LBCF: Body and Soul

"One possible interpretion? The men who own businesses despite not having college educations can produce ..."

Carstonio

LBCF: Body and Soul

"As I understand it, the Halloween franchise was originally planned to be an anthology; with ..."

reynard61

LBCF: Body and Soul

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category class warfare evangelicals Iraq Left Behind Mammon music Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who's sight was restored by Ananias in Damascus?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Paul of Tarsus King Saul Saul of Tarsus Pontius Pilate