RUMOR regarding FCC (Federal Communications Commission) stopping religious broadcasts:

Holiness.com received a visitor email that contained what appears to be a well known rumor-hoax. An excerpt of the visitor's email follows, with important information that the FCC provided at the bottom of this webpage:

VISITOR EMAIL--------------------------------------------------------------

Passing on !!

Please, if you don't wish to participate, return this to the person
who sent it to you so they can at least keep this going or
forward it to some one you think will wish to participate.

Dr. Dobson is going on CNBC to urge every Christian to get
involved. I hope you will think about signing this and forwarding to
all your family and friends. Dr. James Dobson, with Focus on the
Family, pleads for our action.

An organization has been granted a Federal Hearing on the
same subject by the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) in Washington, DC. Their 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. They got 287,000 signatures to
back their stand! If this attempt is successful, all Sunday worship
services being broadcast on the radio or by television will be stopped.

This group is also campaigning to remove all Christmas programs
and Christmas carols from public schools!

You as a Christian can help! We are praying for at least 1 million
signatures. This would defeat their effort and show that there
are many Christians alive, well and concerned about our country.

As Christians, we must unite on this. Please don't take this lightly.
We ignored one lady once and lost prayer in our schools and in offices
across the nation.

Please stand up for your religious freedom and let your voice
be heard. Together we can make a difference in our country
while creating an opportunity for the lost to know the Lord.

Please press "forward,"CLEAN UP THE MESSAGE, and forward this to
everyone you think should read this.

Now, please sign your name at the bottom (you can only add your
name after you have pressed "Forward" or (cut and paste the text).

Don't delete any other names, just go to the next number and
type your name. Please do not sign jointly, such as Mr. & Mrs.,
each person should sign his/her own name.

Please defeat this organization and keep the right of our freedom
of religion. When you get to 1000 please e-mail back to...

END VISITOR EMAIL----------------------------------------------------------

Since the 1990's, each time Holiness.com has contacted the FCC directly regarding the rumor of petition 2493 (and petition RM-2493) to stop religious broadcasting, the FCC has indicated that there is no such current petition. To be more accurate what follows is information provided by the FCC:

These rumors are untrue. In December

1974, Jeremy D. Lansman and Lorenzo W.

Milam filed a petition (RM-2493) asking the

FCC to inquire into the operating practices of

stations licensed to religious organizations,

and not to grant any new licenses for new

noncommercial educational broadcast

stations until the inquiry had been completed.

The FCC denied this petition on August 1,

1975. Ms. O’Hair was not a sponsor of this

petition.

Since that time, the FCC has received mail

and telephone calls claiming that Ms. O’Hair

started the petition and that the petition asked

for an end to religious programs on radio and

television. Such rumors are false. The

FCC has responded to numerous inquiries

about these rumors and advised the public of

their falsehood. There is no federal law that

gives the FCC the authority to prohibit radio

and television stations from broadcasting

religious programs.