Posted by David Naughton on January 09, 1997 at 16:58:11:
In Reply to: Madalyn Murray O'Hair Petition (?) posted by David Naughton on January 08, 1997 at 19:40:12:
: Someone was handing out the following letter at work.
: Does anyone know anything about this? Is this letter
: outdated? I thought that Madalyn Murray O'Hair was
: still missing.
: IMPORTANT NOTICE
: Madelyn Murray O'Hare [sic], the celebrated Atheist,
: whose efforts successfully eliminated the use of the
: Bible reading and prayer from All public schools
: fifteen years ago [What was the date?] has been granted
: a federal hearing in Washington, D.C. on the subject of
: the petition, R.R. 2493, which would in effect pave the
: way to make reading of any gospel (religious material)
: on the air-ways of american radio or television
: [illegal]. She has taken a petition with 27,000
: signatures to support her efforts.
: If HER attempt is succesful [sic], all Sunday worship
: services being broadcast either by Radio or Television,
: will STOP. Many of America's, as well as the rest of
: the World's elderly and shut-ins, as well as those whom
: are restricted by hospitilization and recouparation
: [sic] from illnesses, who depend on the media of
: television and radio to fullfill [sic] their worship
: needs every week [?].
: Madelyn is also campaigning to remove all Christmas and
: Jewish Programs, songs, and carols from public schools.
: This time you can HELP! We need 1,000,000 signed
: letters to defeat Mrs. O'Hare's efforts and show that
: there [are] many God worshipping Americans alive and
: well, and concerned about our country. Madelyn is also
: trying to remove the statement "IN GOD WE TRUST" from
: all the currency in this country.
Judging by the follow-ups posted so far, this letter has raised some
interesting issues for discussion. However, my original intention in
posting it was to find out a few things:
1) Was there ever a petition R.R. 2493 written by Mrs. O'Hair, and if
so, what did it say exactly?
I haven't been able to find any info yet to answer this question.
However, having read some of Mrs. O'Hair's work before, I seriously
doubt that she would ever try to ban all Christian broadcasting.
She definitely has a mean streak, but she's not that mean.
2) The letter indicates that it was written 15 years after Mrs. O'Hair
won her Supreme Court decision regarding prayer in school. Knowing
what that date was will tell us how old the letter is.
After work, I found the date in a book I have at home. Mrs. O'Hair
won the Supreme Court decision in June, 1963, so this letter was
probably written in 1978. However, my coworkers were honestly trying
to convince people to sign the counter-petition mentioned in this
letter. Thus, it appears that concerned Christians have been
distributing this letter and sending signatures to Washington, to
protest a petition that may or may not have existed, for
almost twenty years!