I've just read an excerpt from Bishop Spong's book against fundamentalism , which has a lovely little story:

"One irate reader of a newspaper article wrote that he was praying that the next plane I took would crash, carrying me to my grave. The next time I boarded a flight I felt I should stop at the front of the plane and say, 'Folks, there's something you need to know before this plane takes off..."
Ah, the power of prayer!