Still more neat stories of
events that never happened

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:

	Rowling writes about imaginary witchcraft -- about a culture of flying broomsticks, unicorns, invisibility cloaks, etc. that does not exist in reality.
	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.
	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: 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. "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. 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: "...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