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Religious fanatic briefly hijacks Mexican plane

MEXICO CITY, Sept 9 (Reuters) – A Bolivian-born man clutching a Bible and claiming a divine mission hijacked a plane in Mexico with more than 100 people aboard on Wednesday, but the incident ended quickly and without bloodshed.

Jose Flores, who told police he was a Protestant minister, seized the AeroMexico Boeing 737 after take off from the Caribbean resort of Cancun demanding to speak to Mexican President Felipe Calderon.

Surely if every time a Muslim fanatic commits an act of terror, you call this nutjob a Muslim, you made an error or an oversight by not identifying the hijacker of this plane as a Christian.

But  then why would you let a little thing like confirmed bigotry against Islam to color your editorial judgement in headlining a Christian nut job’s vile behavior

Your headline should have been Christian Hijacks Plane to be consistent with your usual form.

A.Y.

We have no such “usual form.” I went back into our archives and found very few references to religion in the headlines of stories about hijackings. The suspect’s religion and motivation were made clear in the first dozen words of this story: GBU Editor.

Bolivian-born Jose Flores gestures while he is being taken to jail in Mexico City September 11, 2009. REUTERS/Eliana Aponte

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