Adecades-old hoax about a well known atheist seeking a ban on religious
broadcasting has caught up with the information age.
The urban legend about religion and the Federal Communications
Commission has circulated through the mail and word of mouth since 1975. It
re-emerged recently as an e-mail hoax focusing on the CBS program “Touched
by an Angel.”
Adecades-old hoax about a well known atheist seeking a ban on religious
broadcasting has caught up with the information age.
The urban legend about religion and the Federal Communications
Commission has circulated through the mail and word of mouth since 1975. It
re-emerged recently as an e-mail hoax focusing on the CBS program “Touched
by an Angel.”
The e-mail in question reads: “CBS will be forced to
discontinue Touched By an Angel for using the word GOD in every
program. (The) petition, number 2493, would ultimately pave the way to stop
the reading of the gospel of our Lord and Savior, on the airwaves of America.”
The hoax asserts atheist Madalyn Murray OHair and her
organization have received “287,000 signatures” with a petition
that “ultimately” will ban religious programming.
“Sunday worship services being broadcast on the radio
or by television will be stopped,” the e-mail reads. “This group
is also campaigning to remove all Christmas programs and Christmas carols
from public schools! You as a Christian can help!”
There are several problems with the e-mail. Most notable
is the fact that OHair has been missing and presumed dead since 1995.
Another is the fact that the 2493 petition – usually
identified as RM-2493 – was not filed by OHair but by Jeremy Lansman
and Lorenzo Milam in 1974. It asked the Federal Communications Commission
to explore operating practices of religious stations. It also asked that no
new requests for licenses be granted to religious stations until after the
completion of the study.
The Lansman-Milam petition was denied on August 1, 1975.
Nevertheless, it has remained alive ever since, surfacing
periodically in various forms. Each time, Christians have been quick to bite
on the hoax.
Indeed, because of millions of inquiries inspired by the
hoax during two decades of circulation, the Federal Communications Commission
has published information about laws regarding religious broadcasting in newspapers,
religious publications, TV Guide and Time magazine.
For a time, it also operated an automated information line
with one channel dedicated to facts on the petititon.
“There is no federal law or regulation that gives the
FCC the authority to prohibit radio and television stations from presenting
religious programs,” the commissions website notes. “Broadcasters,
not the FCC nor any other governmental agency, have the responsibility for
selecting the programming that is aired by their stations.”
Still, the hoax continues – and observers admit the
nature of the Internet makes it hard to stop the process. It is easy –
and mind-numbingly quick – to spread a hoax via the Net.
Speaking of which, have you heard the story about …? (ABP)