Twenty minutes after take off a Cathway Pacific A-330 had an engine fail and catch fire. The crew remained calm and returned the plane to Singapore where emergency crews got the passengers off and put out the fire. Once everybody was assembled in the terminal the pilot had these words for his passengers:

“The best that we can ever ask of passengers is to stay cool, stay calm … which you did,” he said. “And for that we thank you.”

So what headline did Reuters give the article? “Calm and prayers help steer stricken plane back to Singapore.”

A few passengers had prayed, but that doesn’t mean their prayers did anything. You know what steered the plane back to Singapore? The pilot. “Humble” religious piety in cases like this is nothing less than an ungrateful, despicable denial of the actions of those who actually saved the day.

The article doesn’t name the pilot, but he’s the hero in the story. Especially since he was humble enough to thank his passengers for staying calm.