'Panicked' London train commuters flee onto tracks when man reads bible out loud

[Tennis]

http://www.oregonlive.com/today/inde..._commuter.html

London commuters wrenched open the doors of a packed rush-hour train Monday morning, forcing the train to stop and the power to the tracks to be cut. Witnesses described the scene as "panicked" and a "commotion."

The reason: a fellow passenger was reading the Bible aloud.

"I specifically heard him say things about homosexuality and sex before marriage being sins and how we had to repent for our sins, the lord gave his son for our sins, et cetera," one passenger told the Richmond & Twickenham Times. "I sort of zoned out a little after that as I had no interest in listening to him."

Others weren't able to zone out. They "started to panic and push."

Some commuters "became scared when the man also began saying 'Death is not the end,'" a rider told the BBC.

Trains on the route from the southwest London suburb of Shepperton to the city center were delayed for hours. No one was injured in what the police described as a "self-evacuation."

Fleeing wasn't the only option for commuters who didn't want to hear about their sins. A passenger finally asked the Bible-reading man to be quiet because he was scaring people, and "the guy stopped and stood there with his head down."

Surveys show that Great Britain is one of the most secular countries in the world. The "avowedly non-religious," The Guardian newspaper reported earlier this year, now make up half of Britain's population.

What's going on in this world. Some reads some passages so people lose their mind? Really?

[Torgent]

That's not the issue and you know it isn't. The issue that he was reading the bible and passages about death on a crowded train. That's something that a crazy person would do right before people are murdered.

Not that I agree with them fleeing the train, but that is why they did it. It wasn't "OMG CHRISTIANITY!"

[Razorice]

Guess they were afraid the guy reading the bible is gonna blow himself up.
Just a thought though

[Exeris]

Probably were afraid he was a crazy person with a knife or a bomb or something.

[Stormspellz]

would imagine randomly speaking religious quotes is done by suicide bombers before boom

but of course you know that you just want an audience for your soap box

[ParanoiD84]

Well who can blame them this world have tons of crazys in it.

[Tennis]

Well who can blame them this world have tons of crazys in it.

I can. I don't support paranoia.

[Arrashi]

Maybe he was exorcist and those dudes were possesed ?

[Exeris]

I can. I don't support paranoia.

I support trying to stay alive.

[Deleted]

The train is quiet time, if you start loudly talking to yourself throwing out religious shit people get nervous.

[noidentity]

I can. I don't support paranoia.

Unless you have friends while in a relationship with someone.

[Deleted]

It's almost like people are on edge after a religious extremist tried to blow up a train a few weeks ago.

[ParanoiD84]

I can. I don't support paranoia.

Well there have been multiple terrorists attacks in europe with london included and there is plenty of crazy people out there ready to commit random acts of violence so i guess people are abit nervous.

[Deleted]

Did we just discover a terrorist loophole? Make people so afraid when you are quoting religious text, that they inflict harm upon themselves?

[zlygork]

I can. I don't support paranoia.

I'd rather be paranoid and make a ridicule of myself than die out of respect. If you tell me these fleeing people started punching random christians in the street or started a campaign to ban christianism, then that'd be a different matter.

[Moralgy]

Well there have been multiple terrorists attacks in europe with london included and there is plenty of crazy people out there ready to commit random acts of violence so i guess people are abit nervous.

^^^ I'm getting the hell away from a dude that starts screaming about death and destruction when I'm stuck in a box with him. I would rather be alive than find out he wasn't just being a dick.

[ranzino]

try to play Diablo 2's last vid loud in a train and wait for reaction. bible or not, it will backfire too ?

[grexly75]

Maybe he was exorcist and those dudes were possesed ?

Or they were atheists and they hate religion..

[Moralgy]

Or they were atheists and they hate religion..

The religion hating atheists would be arguing in the dude's face, lets be real here.

[Sixnalia]

2 weeks ago, the underground had an explosion injuring more than 20. I'd feel uneasy hearing someone recite religious texts after a recent act of terror. And I would understand why some would panic. (Though going to university has numbed me against the preacher types nowadays. I'd still feel uneasy bring stuck underground in a train with them, though. Their fanaticism is an unknown.)

Luckily, one level headed individual asked the man to stop. Both confirming they were not meaning harm and that the person reciting was respectful enough to stop.

I'm sure the people panicking were afraid of a stereotype "recites religious texts for self justification, before killing themselves and harming/killing nearby people." Cause movies sometimes hype that up.