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From: csg@pyramid.UUCP (Carl S. Gutekunst)
Newsgroups: net.religion,net.religion.christian
Subject: Re: Atheist "No Christmas" petition
Message-ID: <50@pyramid.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 15-Oct-85 14:53:28 EDT
Article-I.D.: pyramid.50
Posted: Tue Oct 15 14:53:28 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 17-Oct-85 02:20:02 EDT
References: <3178@ut-sally.UUCP>
Reply-To: csg@pyramid.UUCP (Carl S. Gutekunst)
Distribution: net
Organization: Pyramid Technology, Mountain View, CA
Lines: 37
Keywords: Murray-O'Hair, FCC, Write them!
Xref: watmath net.religion:7986 net.religion.christian:1447

In article <3178@ut-sally.UUCP> brian@ut-sally.UUCP (Brian H. Powell) writes:
>     The Federal communications Commission in Washington, D.C. has received
>a 28,000 signature petition from Madelyn [Murray-] O'Hair protesting:
>
>1.  Christmas programs in public schools
>2.  Singing of Christmas carols in public schools
>3.  No public radio or television religious programs
>
>     This petition has been identified as No. 2493 and if anyone is interested
>in responding to this you may write:

NO, NO, NO! This is an entirely false rumor that has been making the rounds in
church newsletters for *over 15 years.*

DO NOT WRITE THE FCC. They have been up to their armpits in protest mail for
this non-existant docket/petition for more than a decade.

In the early 70's, the FCC altered the distribution of frequencies for new non-
profit broadcasting stations, at the request of several Christian broadcasters.
This included a 6-month moratorium on new non-profit broadcasting stations
while the FCC sorted things out. Somehow this made the church newsletter
circuit as a _total_ban_ on religious broadcasting; along the way the story was
embellished and Ms. O'hare's name attached to it. Not only did Ms. O'Hare not
have nothing to do with it, but she hasn't been an activist for over five
years. 

Incidentally, people should learn to be more suspicious about these kinds of
things; they are usually fraught with nonsense. For example, the FCC has no
control over singing of Christmas carols in public schools -- why would anyone
send them a petition about it? In addition, you can't submit "petitions" to the
FCC in the usual sense; they are a regulatory agency, not a constitutional
lawmaker. 
-- 
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