NEW YORK, NY (RNS) - The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has once again appealed to misinformed citizens to stop urging it to reject a petition, from atheist leader Madalyn Murray O'Hair, to have all religious programming removed from the airwaves. Although the federal agency has received over 21 million appeals to reject the petition, there has never been such a document.
"We have spent an inordinate amount of time responding to mail and phone calls on this matter, explaining the facts to anyone who calls and sending out fact sheets to others," said FCC spokeswoman Maureen Peratino. "We don't have the resources to do more, regardless of who might be the target of this hoax."
The campaign against the non-existent petition, which began in the mid- 1970s, may have had some tenuous link to reality. More than 15 years ago, two broadcast producers did petition the FCC to reconsider its policy of granting licenses to religious broadcasters to air educational programming. The petition never had any link to O'Hair and the FCC rejected it in 1975.
However, the FCC number on the case - RM 2493 - became linked to O'Hair and letters of protest have come pouring into the federal agency ever since, sometimes at the rate of 300,000 a month. The volume seems to increase during the Christmas and Easter seasons.
-Religious Broadcasting Magazine, February, 1989
Once more, with feeling. Does Madalyn Murray O'Hair have a petition labeled RM 2493 before the Federal Communications Commission, which threatens to remove religious programming from the air? No. That rumor is, and always has been, false. It is incredible that letters protesting this non-existent threat keep flowing into the FCC at the rate of 135,000 per month. The real RM 2493, which would not have endangered religious broadcasting, in any event was denied by the FCC in 1975. Since then, over 15,500,000 unnecessary pieces of mail have come to the FCC as counter-petitions. Etch it in your mind. Any petition mentioning RM 2493 is a hoax.
-Robert P. Dugan, Jr., Editor, NAE Washington Insight, September, 1983
The FCC's official statement on this petition direct from their website.
Now, Dr. James Dobson's name has been added to this fictitious petition. Click Here to see.
Other Hoaxes and Misinformation
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Congressional Bill to Charge for Internet Access
Procter & Gamble's Man-In-The-Moon Logo Linked to Satan Worship
Oil Drillers in Siberia Hear Screams from Hell
If anyone you know brings up this hoax,
please explain to them that it does not exist, and to
please stop circulating the false petitions. If you have
questions about this or other rumors, please contact us.
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