August 13, 2008

Preacher's wife was storming the cockpit

Testimony at the civil trial of unctuous megapreacher Joel Osteen's wife continued yesterday with revelations the plaintiff flight attendant considers Osteen's church a "cult" and its pastor a "devil."

The flight attendant, Sharon Brown, alleges a physical struggle ensued when Continental Airlines staff failed to immediately remove a stain from Mrs. Osteen's first class seat during a flight to Vail, CO.

Barbara Ehrenreich recalls a similar incident in which another promoter of the so-called "prosperity gospel," Robert Schuller, violently shook a flight steward when the latter refused to pick off a slice of cheese from the preacher's fruit salad plate.
On other occasions, God intervened to save Joel Osteen from a speeding ticket and to get him not only a good parking spot but "the premier spot in that parking lot." Why God did not swoop down with a sponge and clean up the offending stain on the armrest remains a mystery.
The circus resumes today.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It's kinda strange the Chronicle has the story in the Religion section, eh?

I guess it sort of makes sense that religiously inclined readers would be most interested, since they're more likely to know the players. But the story (along with a bus crash in which the only connection to faith was the riders' destination) makes the section seem like "news that's tangentially related to our peculiar subculture."