It has never been easy to maintain a strong personal witness to the unchanging truths of Christianity in the “public square.” How difficult the potential consequences of such candor have been has varied from place to place through the long centuries since A.D. 33.
For much of the period of commercial passenger aviation, at least in Western nations, being a strong Christ-follower on the job was not much more difficult than in any other industry. Being true to biblical morality, and being an active witness to it, might not have made you popular in your airline, but it did not threaten your employment.
Unfortunately, now, in the early decades of the 21st century this has changed.
The major catalyst for increased risk of being disciplined, or even fired, because of your Christian convictions has been the advent of certain new kinds of “training” in the corporate world during the past several years. This training is not only designed to educate employees, but sometimes also to arbitrarily indoctrinate them into the “post-Christian” worldview now held by many people in Western society at large. While this worldview is not always in direct opposition to biblical values, it often is, and this can be especially true regarding human sexuality.
The reality is that our aviation livelihoods are becoming increasingly at stake based on how we handle this new development.
Our next several “Thoughts for the Week” will address this reality in the airline workspace and discuss how we may keep our jobs without losing our spiritual integrity (the latter being something of infinitely greater value). Achieving this will involve walking a difficult tightrope even in the “best-case” scenario. It also involves the possibility we may have some hard decisions to make in case that scenario is closer to “worst-case.”
“Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. “-John 15:20 (ESV)
