i don’t know about you guys, but i continually get email petitions from people. it can be on subjects from boycotting Exxon…to boycotting Teletubbies because Jerry Falwell said one of them was gay…to send this email to 10 friends or something bad is going to happen to you. i really think we have something better to do with our times & our internet bandwith than to send out these forwarding petitions. especially when they are clearly not researched on the subject. and honestly…maybe i’m way jaded & cynical (you don’t have to agree 
…i just don’t think it’s going to do any good. i could be wrong. but i got one in my inbox today, and i had to share it with you. if you disagree with me about the effectiveness of email petitions…then i encourage you to copy it, paste it, and send it on to your address book. you won’t hurt my feelings. as for the rest of you…i hope you enjoy this nice little read.
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Have a blessed day!
Removal of Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyer 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 S av ior, 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! Please add your name to this list and forward on.
We are praying for at least 1 million signatures. This would defeat their effort.
As Christians, we must unite to fight the enemy. Please don’t take this lightly.
We ignored one lady once and lost prayer in our schools and in offices across the nation.< /SPAN> Please stand up for your religious freedom and let your voice be heard. Together, with the Lord, we can make a difference in our country while creating an opportunity for the lost to know the Lord.
Dr. Dobson is going on CNBC to urge every Christian to get involved. Please sign and forward to all your family and friends. 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 you have cut and pasted the te xt).
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.
We, who are signing this document , do not want the gospel removed from our airways. It is freedom to have our religion.
When you get to 1000 please e-mail back to : johndoe@hotmail.com
.Darral Walker
2. Gloria Walker
3.Jane Smith Lebo
4.J. Mel Lebo
5.Sharon Galavitz
6.Anita Reed
7.Mary e. P arker
8.Kenneth Parker,Sr.
9,Barbara Parker
10. Cornis Wells-Cannon
11. Linda Mathis
12. Gail Crawford
13. Marie Pickens
14. Thelma Thomas
15. Eva Medlock
16 . Ruby Steele
17. Dwight Terry
18.Katrina S. McNeil
19. Trina Weddle
For those of you who don’t know how to add your name – hit forward first and then just add your
name at the bottom and then forward it on to your friends. So many people do not know this and are
forwarding it without their names added.
Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you; Jesus Christ and the American GI.
One died for your soul; the other for your freedom
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i don’t know about you guys…but if this is true…i don’t necessarily know if i want to stop them from taking down TBN & the rest of those wonderful health, wealth, & prosperity shows on tv…haha…i’m just kidding
update: please remember this a post about the funness of forwarded christian email petitions & how much i don’t care for them…not a debate on the content of this particular petition. play nice people. 
I am pretty sure that Joel and the crazy chick preachers and many others should not be on TV or radio or anything. The represent us badly..
Sorry if anyone out there digs them, they just have really bad theology. So I will not be passing this along.
I will not let this ruin my day because it’s too beautiful outside to let it rain on my parade. I realize there’s a lot of confusion out there about what it is I actually believe, and who I actually believe in. Hell, I’m not even too sure of that myself. I won’t be too hard on you for not liking my theology, Mr. Setliffe. After all, my theology is really just my daddy’s theology, and come to think of it, I’m not sure what that is either. But he built my enormous church and fed my ego, so everything is dandy here at Lakewood. In fact, it’s probably my best life… right now. Even better now than when I wrote the first book.
Godblessha.
I am in the same boat. I get those stupid things all the time! I think that we should start a petition against these types of petitions. Let’s get our petition on people! But seriously it’s sad that people spend their time contributing to things like this.
Dude, I’m with ya. Can we start a petition to stop these petitions?
Either that or we can start our own commission to get those guys off the air!
Frustrated…
Brad Ruggles
http://www.bradruggles.com
I hear you on the annoyance of email forwards but….
It would be quite the violation of freedom of speech, press, and religion to just have the government take them off the airwaves. You might not be a Christian, might believe in the division of church and state, and hell, you might even disagree with the theology of those in question. But it is an outright violation of first amendment rights to mandate that they can’t broadcast their programs.
The idea that we can silence whoever we want, just because we don’t agree with them is one of the most un-American ideas out there. That freedom is what has made America great. Those people have just as much right to broadcast their ideas as any of us do.
mattsetliffe mentioned that “they just have really bad theology”. What can be more subjective than one’s theology? And what gives one group of Christians (with a particular theology) the right to silence another group of Christians who happen to believe in something a little different?
How dare you suggest that YOUR theology is RIGHT and THEIRS is WRONG! I’m sure that they believe just as strongly in theirs as you do in yours, mattsetliffe.
If anything, all Americans should be standing against this petition (mentioned in the email) not because they believe in the opinions of those people the petition is trying to silence, but because they believe in freedom of speech.
One more thing, as soon as we let the free speech of others get taken away just because we don’t necessarily agree with them, the next thing that happens is that our own freedoms will come under attack. If you give them (opponents of liberty) an inch, they will not stop there, they will keep coming back for more. The next thing that happens is that your own freedom will be “regulated”, and noone will care because they don’t share your same opinions.
This is what frustrates me so much about America. We all only fight for our own rights, not each others. If we all fought for the liberty of everyone, we wouldn’t be finding our own so under assault. This nation has become one of “get what you can for yourself while it lasts.” Selfishness. Instead of what the founding fathers had in mind, “Liberty For All”.
I really just want to stand up and sing the Anchor Holds right now. Ok…Bush that was really more for you than anyone else. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA Great post by the way.
Trevor
Amos said…”How dare you suggest that YOUR theology is RIGHT and THEIRS is WRONG! I’m sure that they believe just as strongly in theirs as you do in yours, mattsetliffe”
What if my theology consisted of torturing babies for fun, would that be acceptable??
Amos, assuming you’re not being sarcastic, you are falling into the relativism trap. There are things we can know.
If it was that easy to change the Constitution, we would have a lot more amendments than we do. This is just silly.
Can you imagine and Osteen/Meyer Presidential ticket
That’ll never make it… An i have never liked the “stand up and fight” phrase because of how violent it makes Christians seem. I think what they are asking us to fight for here is the chance to keep Christianity in America in its comfortable little place. So that we can do our thing on sundays and the rest of the world can’t say a thing about it. a sort of “na na na na boo boo, we’re in our safe spot” type of place.
Whoa… I’m bias.
Here Here!
Mike, this isn’t even the sphere of relativism in terms of what is right and wrong. This is the sphere of what is freedom and what is opposite. I’m not suggesting that either side is wrong or right, thats not the point. The point is that decreeing that my religious views are any more real to me than someone else’s, and then imposing them on others is religious oppression.
Whats more, there’s no need to mention such extremes as “torturing babies”, obviously that falls into a new sphere of right and wrong, in particular the human rights sphere. Your point might be to say “where does the relativism end?”, but this sort of example only pulls your attention away from the point of what I’m saying. In a truly free world, I have no right to tell you that your theology is wrong.
Let me rephrase my last sentence,
In a truly free world, I have no right to tell you that your theology is wrong for you. I can say it is wrong in MY OPINION, but that doesn’t just make it wrong.
geez…everybody needs to take a breath.
This one’s been out there a while. I remember getting this like 2 or 3 years ago ’cause (<-that’s Texan for you) my mom was freaking out about it.
I am sorry but there is a word for “email petitions” SPAM. Just that simple to me. Just because you know who it comes from doesn’t mean it isn’t spam. In fact, once I deem it as spam (i.e., all it has to say is “hit forward first and then just add your name at the bottom”, or something to that effect) I really think the remaining part of the message is irrelevant.
Not to step on many toes, but I am surprised so many people read the body of the message (I admit I did skim it pretty good), but it is not an original thought from the person sending it? Right?
If something is spam, to me, it is not worth the time and effort to contest the merits of the words. IMHO… just my $.02
Amos and all-
Sorry to offend, it was just a joke for the most part. I am for freedom of speech just like the next guy. Sure I would love to have every crazy TV preacher pushin’ a prosperity gospel pulled off the airwaves, but that limits everyone then.
Freedom of speech aside I still contend that Osteen and freinds have suspect theology, I am free to express that obviously. I have done ministry in a lot of different cultures. Buddhist, Hindus, and Muslim all feel strongly about their theology…this does not necessarily mean it is good or correct.
But after being in many closed countries I am grateful that we all have a level playing field here in the states to speak…that we can agree on Amos, thanks for your thoughts!
Disclaimer:
I do think that we see parts of truth within different religions, since all truth is God’s truth. For instance Buddhists and Christians would agree on the need for love and humanitarian acts. The difference is that for Buddhists this is a means of attaining salvation or Nirvana. For Christians this is a response to the salvation we have recieved freely in Christ.
ok done…thanks!
One more thing…
Bush, let me comment on the actual purpose of your blog, since it seems I have led to it’s demise..lol. Yes I hate these petitions also…
Free speech at work!
ok I know this borders the most consecutive posts but I had to…
I just opened my aol account which i check not often and I had the same e-mail petition…and Bush you were on the list as well. lol…
I think it is somone from Yadkinville, NC. Good times.
Well stated, mattsetliffe, thanks for the reply!
amos
Bush,
I just setup a junk email account. And anytime I sign up for something i use that account. This way I get junk in my “junk” account.
Blah Blah Blah
Dustin
thanks for the clarification amos
I love the e mails, and i’ll keep sending them.. did i mention that Barak Obama is the Anti Christ? i mean, look it up, its in Revelation….
I’m just trying to live “my best life now”
Just like John Kerry was the antichrist 4 years ago, yup.
just want to say i agree with you on the forwards if they are not thoroughly researched! and the ones who usually send them to me…. don’t do much of that! as for it being or true or not, i have yet to find an actual NEWS web site…. or anything “official”…. just pages anyone, anywhere, at any time can put up…. IF it is true, i will gladly sign…. just because it sets a standard for all…. whoever is a “good” example or a “bad” example is not my decision, and if you are really a christian, and you really know your Word, then you KNOW that the Judgment seat is reserved for God and God alone! if you don’t like them…. turn it off or change the channel! how many channels do we have to choose from even basic cable… and if you don’t have even that, then you don’t have to worry about it, because they are not generally on regular tv! what about freedom to choose what you want to watch??? there are shows i don’t much care for, and i “think” are “stupid”…. but i simply do not watch them…. too simple for some people to handle? i am beginning to think so…. thank you for putting up a site that says STOP! LOOK IT UP FIRST! lol
Moral values are going to the bin. We are removing positive things from society, things that can shape kids to be better individuals, no petition against porno or profanity. but to something positive. IT really does not make sense, maybe thats why the moral decadence in the world has gotten to an alarming level. These preachers preach love and hope, whats wrong with that. Jesus loves you
dante – you missed my point. i just ask that people stop sending me things that are not researched & usually not true. i also disagree…there are tons of petitiosn out there started by Christians trying to ban porno & profanity. you’re just not getting them.
most of these preachers do preach about hope & love & that’s awesome…however they mostly preach a version of the Gospel (health & wealth) that is not true, but this isn’t the time or place to get into that one.
I think more people need to get on truthorfiction.com and figure out if what they are passing is true or not. I usually correct the person sending false information. I received this petition you are speaking of, but I cannot find anything about it on truth or fiction.
petition, Number 2493 is a hox
LOL!!! anyone who would forward this obviously has no understanding at all of the the basic tenets of the 1st amendment (or the subsequent establishment or free exercise clauses contained within) or the separation of church and state. This email and the referenced “FCC petition” is a complete hoax and frankly the numerous signatures and frequency that this email has been forwarded, only serves to reinforce the popular consensus of the secular community that the Christian citizens of this country are detached, uneducated, obtuse and gullible. And when someone forwards and signs such a document without performing the slightest bit of due diligence to verify it’s authenticity, especially given that the basic premise of the email would be so egregious and blatantly unconstitutional to the point of it being obviously fallacious, it makes the community look very naive.
I actually JUST got this email in my inbox, sent to me by a certain Aunt who is forever forwarding this stuff to me.
I’m all for the freedom of religion and the freedom of speech-hence I am also for a religious group purchasing air time from a tv station and the tv station airing what they have to say on the matter….but as for these petitions? RESEARCH!!!!
This particular email has some convoluted truth to it: The FCC did have a petition that was numbered 2493. It was filed in 1974! And DENIED in I think it was August of 1975.