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STILL MORE CHRISTIAN URBAN LEGENDSStill more neat stories of
events that never happened
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This essay describes more CULs that we have uncovered from Internet mailing lists, Emails from conservative
Christians, Urban Legend web sites, etc:
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Petition to ban religious broadcasting: The legend states that Madalyn
Murray O'Hair, the well known strong Atheist activist, had been granted a hearing by the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC). Her petition, PM 2493, could eventually ban all
religious broadcasting by radio and television stations. She is alleged to have petitioned
also for the elimination of Christmas songs, programs and carols from TV, radio stations,
schools and office buildings. 1 One of many erroneous Emails still being distributed as of early 2010 is:
"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. If this attempt is successful, all Sunday worship services being broadcast on the radio or by television will be stopped."
A petition numbered RM-2493 actually existed, but it had nothing to do with O'Hair or with existing
radio and TV stations. It was a petition about the issuance of broadcasting licenses that
were reserved for non-commercial educational purposes. Jeremy Lansman and Lorenzo Milam
asked that a freeze be placed on such licenses for stations run by religious universities,
bible schools or colleges. Their intent was to make certain that licenses which were
intended for educational purposes not be used for religious proselytizing. The petition
was heard by the FCC in 1974-DEC and rejected in 1975-AUG. The FCC correctly interpreted
the 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution as requiring that
the Commission "observe a stance of neutrality toward religion, acting neither to
promote nor inhibit religion." The petition had nothing to do with existing Christian radio and TV stations. It had
nothing to do with Ms. O'Hair. Although it was rejected in 1975, the FCC is still being
inundated by angry petitions about the infamous RM-2493. Between 1975 and 1995, over 30
million pieces of mail on this topic had been received by the FCC. The FCC has denied the
rumor, but the letters still arrive, even 15 years after Ms. O"Hair died. 2
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WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?): The legend involves a final exam for a
course in the life of Jesus that was given at a religious institute. The students arrive
at the exam site, only to find a notice that the test had been moved to another building
at the other side of the campus. As each student rushed to the other location, they were
approached by a beggar who asked for help. Only one student stopped to help the person.
That student received an 'A' on the course. The others failed the course because they
obviously had missed Jesus' basic message. The beggar was the test!
This urban legend is different from the others in this essay, because it was based on a
real event in 1970 at Princeton Theological Seminary. Some seminary students were asked to prepare a
talk on the parable of the good Samaritan, or similar topic. They were then told to go to
another building and deliver the talk. On the way, they passed an actor who was slumped in
an alleyway. The study observed how many students stopped to help the person in need. 3
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Enema explosion in Thailand: Darwin
Award.com recognized the following as one of the finest urban folk tales
of 1998. Charnchai Puanmuangpak died almost instantly after
attempting a self-administered enema using a compressed air hose from a
local gasoline station. A police spokesperson commented: "We still
haven't located all of him. When that quantity of air interacted with the
gas in his system, he nearly exploded. It was like an atom bomb went off or
something." A spokesperson for the Nakhon Ratchasima hospital
commented: "Pumping is the devil's pastime, and we must all say no
to Satan. Inflate your tires by all means, but then hide your bicycle pump
where it cannot tempt you." This is a rather unbelievable urban
legend because Thailand is a Buddhist country, and Buddhism is theoretically
non-theistic. It is unlikely that a hospital spokesperson would make
references to the devil and Satan which are Christian and Muslim concepts. It is
quite possible to die from a compressed air hose used in this way. However,
an explosion is most improbable.
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Angel bodyguards: This is a quite widespread
story involving a university coed. Various versions of the story place
her at Ole Miss, or the Universities of Missouri, Florida or Ohio. The
event allegedly took place on a college campus where the students were
alarmed at a number of recent muggings and rumors of a rape. Sally, a
sophomore, fell asleep in the library while studying history. She woke up
at 1:03 AM and had the night janitor let her out. She was terrified,
because she had to walk across campus to her dorm. She prayed
continuously "Oh, Lord, protect me. Place
your angels around me." Just as she made it to her door, she heard a
blood-curdling scream coming from the path that she had just walked. She
phoned the police. They captured the campus bandit, and found a young
woman that he had just murdered. It turns out that he had been hiding in
the bushes with the intent of attacking the next woman who passed. He
bypassed Sally and attacked the next woman instead. When asked why he
did not select Sally, he replied: "How stupid do you think I am? Do
you think I would attack a girl with two huge guys on her arm?" 10
|  | A rope around the priest's ankle: This story has been
repeated by many Christians and Jews for centuries, in many forms. It
talks about the danger that a Jewish high priest faced when he entered
the Holy of Holies of the Temple once a year. If he were not properly
prepared, God might kill him. The rope was allegedly tied around the
high priest's ankle, leg or waist. Then, if he were to be murdered, the
other priests would be able to recover the body by dragging it out of
the Holy of Holies. No mention of the rope appears in the Bible or in
any other Jewish source, like the Talmud or Mishna. According to the Zion Messianic Jewish Fellowship Congregation: "The way the
curtains of the temple were designed, the priest could not have been
dragged out of the HOLY of HOLIES. The veil was made using many layers
of cloth. The thickness was over three feet. The curtains overlapped and
made a small maze through which the priest walked..." 11
|  | Madeline O'Hare at it again: A rumor has circulated among
Christian radio stations about Madalyn
Murray O'Hair (sometimes incorrectly referred to as Madeline O'Hare). She
was perhaps America's best known strong Atheist.
The most recent urban legend involving here is that she is single-handedly responsible for convincing CBS to
discontinue its program "Touched by an Angel." Apparently the
people spreading the rumor are unaware that O'hair died in the
mid 1990s, long before this rumor started to circulate.
|  | Rumors about the Harry Potter® book series: J.K. Rowling has written the
most popular series of children's books in history. They involve a
Witch-in-training, Harry Potter, and his experiences during his wizard
training at a special school of witchcraft. Unfortunately, the words "witch"
and "witchcraft" have at least 17
different meanings.
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Rowling writes about imaginary witchcraft -- about a culture of
flying broomsticks, unicorns, invisibility cloaks, etc. that does not
exist in reality.
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The terms are also used to refer to followers of Wicca and other Neopagan religions. These are popular Earth-centered religion
which are growing rapidly in popularity. The appeal to youth and
young adults in particular, perhaps because of their concern for the
environment, and lack of racism, sexism, and homophobia.
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Also, English translators of the Bible sometimes use "witch"
and "witchcraft" to condemn evil
sorcerers and persons who murder with poison. |
All three "kinds" of Witches are essentially unrelated to each other.
However, some religious and social conservatives treat them as identical, and
believe that all three are versions of Satanists
and Satanism. By their reasoning, both Wicca and the Harry Potter
books are clearly Satanic. Two urban legends have been widely circulated
by E-mail about Rowling's books. Both are based on satirical articles
that were intended to amuse readers, and were never expected to be taken
seriously:
 | A satirical feature titled "Post Morten" was published by
the National Post, a socially and politically conservative newspaper. It
described an imaginary interview between Rowling and a fictional Post reporter,
Massimo Commanducci. In the article, Rowling was quoted as saying that
she is an avowed Satanist. She decided to give herself "...body and
soul, to the Dark Master. And in return, he will give me absurd wealth
and power over the weak and pitiful of the world. And he did!" She
said: "I worship the Devil, Beelzebub, Satan, Lucifer -- in all his
unholy forms. And I owe all my success, all my glory, all my power, to
my sweet, beautiful Lucifer." She said that "...the books are
designed to corrupt young minds. That's what Lucifer demands of us --
all of us [Satanists]!" This work of fiction has been picked up
and distributed widely. 12 |  | An Internet humor/satire site, The Onion®,
specializes in writing sensational stories of fiction to amuse their
readers. They publish a disclaimer, stating that they use "...invented
names in all its stories, except in cases when public figures are
being satirized. Any other use of real names is accidental and
coincidental." One of their works of fiction involved interviews
of children in Lock Haven, PA, who had been reading the Harry Potter
books. One Christian, going by the name of Roger Lynn, circulated an
E-mail circa 1991-DEC quoting The Onion's article as if it were reporting an
actual event. 13 He may not have been aware that it was
a satirical work of fiction. In the Onion article, some children gave the following comments:
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Craig Nowell, a recent convert to the New Satanic Order Of The
Black Circle allegedly said: "The Harry Potter books are cool,
'cause they teach you all about magic and how you can use it to
control people and get revenge on your enemies. I want to learn the
Cruciatus Curse, to make my muggle science teacher suffer for giving
me a D." (Wiccans are prohibited from dominating,
manipulating and controlling others. A muggle is a non-Witch) Craig and the
Order apparently do not exist. |
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"Ashley" allegedly said: "I used to believe in what they taught
us at Sunday School. But the Harry Potter books showed me that magic
is real, something I can learn and use right now, and that the Bible
is nothing but boring lies." Ashley doesn't seem to exist either. |
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High Priest Egan of the First Church Of Satan in Salem, MA
allegedly said: "Harry is an absolute godsend to our cause. An
organization like ours thrives on new blood - no pun intended - and
we've had more applicants than we can handle lately. And, of course,
practically all of them are virgins, which is gravy." Egan and the First Church do exist.
However, he was in on the satire and had no objection to the parody. The quote could never be true since the First
Church has a lower age limit of 18 for its members -- a common feature of
Satanic groups. |
Lynn stated that J.K. Rowling's series of books:
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"...openly
blasphemes Jesus and God and promotes sorcery, seeking revenge upon
anyone who upsets them by giving you examples (even the sources with
authors and titles!) of spells, rituals, and demonic powers. It is the
doorway for children to enter the Dark Side of evil." |
To our
knowledge, none of the Harry Potter books mention Jesus, God, or
Christianity -- except for a passing reference to Christmas. They
also condemn harmful sorcery. 14 |
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Related essays on this web site:

Additional religious urban folktales can be found at:

References used:
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Cynthia Fulford, "Fight Atheist attacks on Christians to the
Government,"
at: http://students.syr.edu/
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FCC statement: "Religious broadcasting rumor denied," at: http://www.fcc.gov/
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"The lesson in compassion," at: http://snopes.simplenet.com/
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James Dobson, "Dr. Dobson's Study, 2000-APR" at: http://www.family.org/ A copy of the photograph can be seen at this URL.
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Presbyterians Pro-Life Research, Education and Care, Inc. has a web
site at: http://www.ppl.org/
- AANEWS release, 2000-MAY-14
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" 'Hand of Hope' showcased on Capitol Hill," Family Research
Council, Washington Update newsletter, 2003-SEP-26.
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Michael Clancy, "A moment...from a child," at: http://www.michaelclancy.com/
- Roger Lynn, "Harry Potter
chain letter," at: http://urbanlegends.about.com/
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Emily Dunbar, "The heavenly bodyguards," at: http://urbanlegends.about.com/
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"...Questions about the Temple..." at: http://tzion.org/
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"Harry Potter Author Admits She's an Avowed Satanist," TruthOrFiction.com at: http://www.truthorfiction.com/
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"Kids in Lock Haven, PA are Giving Up Their Christian Faith and Starting Satanic Churches because of Harry
Potter Books-Fiction!," TruthOrFiction.com at: http://www.truthorfiction.com/
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"Harry Potter Books Spark Rise In Satanism Among Children," The
Onion, at: http://theonion.com/
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Copyright © 1999 to 2010 by Ontario Consultants on
Religious Tolerance
Creation date: 1999-APR-5
Last update: 2010-FEB-14
Author: B.A. Robinson

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