.~Javier Plumey~.|Fatih, Technology, Politics, Whatever.

After the election of Barack Obama, many of you will start getting email chains that in way or another claim that the government will stop allowing religious services to be broadcast on television, or other similar claims. Please be advised that most of these will be hoaxes designed to harvest emails for spammers. Please ignore them, but stay informed. Look for reputable sources of information from The Catholic League (http://www.catholicleague.org)  and the American Family Association (http://www.afa.net/). Keep  your eyes open, but use good judgement. No matter what you may believe about Barack Obama, I think we’re still very far away from blatant, government-backed, whole-scale religious censorship.

You may recently have seen one about the FCC petition number 2493. Here is the info on that from the official FCC.GOV site:

Religious Broadcasting
Rumor Denied

Madalyn Murray O’Hair

A rumor has been circulating since 1975 that Madalyn Murray O’Hair,
a widely known, self-proclaimed atheist, proposed that the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) consider limiting or banning religious programming. This
rumor is not true. It also has been circulated repeatedly that Ms. O’Hair
was granted an FCC hearing to discuss that proposal. This too is untrue.

There is no federal law or regulation that gives the FCC the authority
to prohibit radio and television stations from presenting religious programs.
Actually, the Communications Act (the law that established the FCC and
defines its authority) prohibits the FCC from censoring broadcast material
and interfering with freedom of speech in broadcasting.

The FCC cannot direct any broadcaster to present, or refrain from presenting,
announcements or programs on religion, and the FCC cannot act as an arbitrator
on the insights or accuracy of such material. Broadcasters, not the FCC,
nor any other governmental agency, have the responsibility for selecting
the programming that is aired by their stations.

RM-2493

A petition filed in December 1974 by Jeremy D. Lansman and Lorenzo W.
Milam which was routinely assigned the number RM-2493 added further confusion
regarding the issue of religious programming. They had asked, among other
things, that the FCC inquire into operating practices of stations licensed
to religious organizations.

The petitioners had also asked that no new licenses be granted for any
new noncommercial educational broadcasting station, until the requested
inquiry had been completed. The “Lansman-Milam petition” was
DENIED by
the FCC on August 1, 1975. The Commission explained then that it is required
by the First Amendment “to observe a stance of neutrality toward religion,
acting neither to promote nor to inhibit religion.” It also explained
that it must treat religious and secular organizations alike in determining
their eligibility for broadcasting channels.

Periodically since 1975, the FCC has received mail indicating that,
in many parts of the country, there were rumors claiming the petitions
of RM-2493 had called for an end to religious programs on radio and television.
Such rumors are false.

Additional mail and telephone calls came in from people who thought
that Ms. O’Hair was a sponsor of RM-2493. This rumor is also false.

Since 1975 to the present time, the FCC has received and responded
to millions of inquiries about these rumors. Many efforts have been made
by the FCC to advise the public of their falsehood. The laws and the FCC’s
policies on the broadcast of religious programming have appeared in numerous
publications (including newspapers, religious publications, TV Guide and
Time Magazine) and have been discussed in religious group meetings.