Dave Lemen

The Geography of Christian Paranoia

This highly-unscientific data was extracted from a chain email that was forwarded to me by a friend.

The subject line of the email says: Christians Please Sign and Pass On, and the message goes on to say that the conservative political leader, Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family "pleads for our action." An unnamed group has been granted a hearing by the FCC for Petition 2493, which "would ultimately pave the way to stop the reading of the gospel of our Lord and Savior, on the airwaves of America." I've included the full text of the message below.

This message is a long-running hoax/rumor, which has been debunked by Focus on the Family, Urban Legends, and Snopes. However, approximately 626 people fell for it and signed the petition before this particular one arrived in my inbox. 568 of them added their state of residence to the end of their signature line, so I felt compelled to crunch the numbers and post the scores.

The Table	The Chart
State Petitioners AK 1 AL 33 AR 16 AZ 5 BC 1 CA 8 CO 3 FL 41 GA 43 ID 2 IL 9 IN 24 KS 1 KY 1 LA 9 MD 21 MN 5 MO 1 MS 49 MT 9 NC 23 ND 2 NY 2 OK 13 PA 18 SC 41 SD 8 TN 16 TX 135 UT 2 VA 6 WA 4 WI 2 WV 14 Total 568

Here's the full message:

Subject: Christians Please Sign and Pass It On


Subject: Christians Please Sign and Pass It On...It only takes a spark to 
keep the Fire Going!
This is a petition you can sign electronically. You as a Christian can help.
You must click forward before you can sign it.
Please don't delete this, before you sign the petition. Just click on forward, 
add your name to the bottom, and forward to everyone that you know.

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 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.

(Note: I've removed the 626 names that follow.)