The title of today’s blog may be provocative and eye-catching, but no, Barack Obama isn’t out to get Christians.

However, there are numbnuts out there who would like you to think so. In the grand tradition of trying to turn people against someone you don’t like by all-out lying about them and then spreading the lie via viral e-mail tactics, we have this doozy (which Mrs. Blue alerted me to, after she received it from the head of a Christian group for which she does some consulting work):

RE: Removal of Pastors Removal of Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyer, Charles Stanley, David Jeremiah and other pastors from the airwaves.

An organization has been granted a Federal Hearing on the same subject by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in Washington , D.C. 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 287,00 signatures to back their stand! If this attempt is successful, all Sunday worship services being broadcast on the radio or by televisionwill 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, if you don’t wish to participate, return this email to whoever sent it to you so they can at least keep this email going or forward it to some one you know who will wish to participate. Dr. Dobson is going on CNBC to urge every Christian to get involved. I hope you will sign and forward to all your family and friends. Please press fo rward, CLEAN UP THE MESSAGE, and forward this to everyone you think should read this. Now, please signyour name at the bottom (you can only add your name after you have pressed ‘Forward’ or you have copied and pasted 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.

__________________________________

If you happen to be a less-than-astute reader of my blog and are wondering what to make of that, let me help:

It is pure, unadulterated bullshit.

First off, and let’s be clear on this, the timing of this e-mail is clearly intended to stir up fear now that Barack Obama is president-elect. The president ultimately dictates who runs the FCC, and thus the implication here is that insidious forces on the Obama camp are now at work to crush Christian religious expression in this country.

This would, of course, be an odd move for Obama to make, considering that it would deprive his former pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright of a voice on the airwaves, being as he is a Christian pastor (pretty sure he is on the airwaves somewhere).

Also, ain’t that convenient that they don’t mention the organization’s name, but know everything else about this supposed conspiracy? And furthermore, just why would the FCC go and give such a hearing to this nameless group? After all, George W. Bush is still president, and is still in control until mid-January. Obama doesn’t have jack for power right now, and the FCC chairman would get an ass-kicking from Bush if he did this.

It’s fear-mongering, plain and simple, and it’s so un-Christian of so-called Christians to spread lies like this.

At Snopes.com there is a great breakdown of the complete and utter falsehood of all this, which is based on something that actually took place in the mid-1970s and was specifically aimed at preventing Christian broadcasting on channels that were specifically reserved for education.

So, it’s based on something that happened more than 30 years ago, and that wasn’t even designed to do what people are claiming it is designed to do.

This e-mail has been around before. It’s back now, just as Obama begins to gear up to take the oath of office in a couple months. It’s just a damn shame we have to have Christians attacking one of their own (Barack Obama is a Christian, folks) by suggesting that the government will now, somehow, magically, get rid of religion now that the GOP isn’t in power anymore and a guy with a funny sounding name will be in the Oval Office.

If it wasn’t so potentially incendiary and possibly dangerous to the life and safety of Obama and his family, it might be laughingly annoying. Instead, it’s painfully sad, it’s pitiful, and it and makes me want to disavow myself of a whole lot of my so-called Christian brethren.