Evangelicals are force-feeding sermons to air travelers: 'I just love a captive audience'

In an effort to expand their proselytizing, evangelical Christians have taken to waiting until packed airliners are in flight before bearing witness to unsuspecting fellow travelers.

According to a Washington Post report highlighted by Hemant Mehta of the "Friendly Atheist" Substack, evangelicals are unapologetically taking center stage on flights thousands of feet in the air with passengers at their mercy. Those evangelical preachers are also filming their "witnessing" for "social media clout."

In an interview with the Post, Whitney Lynn, an evangelist, producer and singer-songwriter from Orlando, confessed she makes a point of speaking on all of her flights, explaining, "They have no choice but to hear the truth. When I have a gift and I have a life raft, if you’re drowning, I want to give you that life raft so you can be saved.”

"Brett Raio, 24, a Maine-based music artist and producer, said he has been nervous before urging people to seek Jesus on planes. But he feels compelled to follow thebiblical teaching to go into the world and preach the gospel to all creatures. He said he only speaks up on a plane when he feels led by God to do so, and takes seriously the thought that anyone could be spending their last day on Earth," the Post is reporting.

Mehta, of the "Friendly Atheist," wrote on his social media platform that there is little airline staff can do to stop this.

"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," he wrote.

Noting that in a separate TikTok video that Lynn bragged, “I just love a captive audience,” he observed, "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."

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