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From: mab@riacs.ARPA (Matt Bishop)
Newsgroups: net.religion,net.religion.christian
Subject: Re: Atheist "No Christmas" petition
Message-ID: <117@riacs.ARPA>
Date: Tue, 15-Oct-85 00:08:53 EDT
Article-I.D.: riacs.117
Posted: Tue Oct 15 00:08:53 1985
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Re: Brian Powell's posting about FCC petition #2493:

>      This appeared in my church's weekly newsletter.  I assume all the
> information is correct.
> 
>	... about FCC #RM-2493 which will ban various religious
>	... broadcasts and Christmas school activities (my
>	... paraphrase)

   Sorry,  Brian, but your church newsletter is not correct.  First,
   #RM-2493 was filed in 1974 and concerned something very different.
   (and was denied in 1975 to boot!)  A similar flyer came around to
   my wife's church last year (except it said #RM-2493 would ban masses
   being broadcast, not what yours said), caused a big commotion, and
   ended with the priest telling everyone the petition was bogus,
   based on a call he made to the FCC.

   Also, the petition seems phony on the face of it -- so far as I know,
   the FCC controls the airwaves only, not the content of Christmas
   programs in public schools and the singing of Christmas carols in
   public schools.  The latter two would be controlled by the state
   legislature or the school board.  Didn't that make anyone suspicious?

-- 
Matt Bishop	mab@riacs.arpa	{decvax!decwrl,ihnp4!ames}!riacs!mab