Sometimes, you just gotta wonder …

“What in the Hell was he thinking?”

Look. Riding the bus is painful enough at the best of times; dirty seats, a bumpy ride, annoying passengers and the bus driver who’s always either recklessly fast or infuriatingly slow always get to me. The last thing anyone needs is to be kept on the bus once they have arrived at their stop. Yet, that’s what bus driver LeRoy Matthews did. Was it for mechanical checks? Or because there had been suspicious activity? Someone had reported something stolen? No – instead, he held a prayer. For five freakin’ minutes. And refused to let anyone debark until it was over.

Seriously.

A MARTA driver was suspended for five days because passengers said LeRoy Matthews insisted that they hold hands while he led them in prayer.

In the complaint, the passenger told MARTA officials the the Route 125 Avondale/Northlake bus was traveling northbound on Nov. 3 when it stopped around 7:30 p.m. at the corner of Northlake Parkway and Lavista Road.

As the passenger, whose name was not released, approached the front of the bus, Matthews, who has been with MARTA six years, stood from his seat and asked everyone to hold hands for a brief word of prayer.

The prayer lasted four to five minutes.

What they prayed for or about is unclear, said Harris.

It is also unclear whether this has happened before.

I dunno about drivers forcing their passengers into prayer, but Christian drivers doing something stupid and against the rules certainly isn’t a first.

I have no idea what (if anything) was going through this idiot’s head; how he could possibly have figured he could get away with such a flagrant and direct violation of the Establishment Clause is beyond anyone with an IQ above that of a slug. I do expect his five-day suspension to stretch to quite a bit longer, if you get my meaning, and I feel nothing but satisfaction at the idea of this twit being out of a job, if he’s this irresponsible and downright incompetent.

(via Friendly Atheist)
Technorati tags: buses · prayer · LeRoy Matthews · Atlanta · Establishment Clause