This time, the rumor involves the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and a proposal which would reportedly limit or ban religious programming on television and radio.

According to e-mails and letters sent to a few St. Cloud diocesan offices, Madalyn Murray O’Hair, a self-proclaimed atheist, is asking the FCC to consider limiting or banning religious programming. The letters say that O’Hair has been granted a hearing to discuss that proposal.

Additionally, the FCC noted that it has received mail claiming that O’Hair filed a formal petition (RM-2493) calling for an end to religious programs on radio and television.

The rumors are untrue, according to a statement on the FCC Web site (www.fcc.gov). In fact, O’Hair has been missing since 1995 - the victim, authorities believe, of foul play.

"There is no federal law or regulation that gives the FCC the authority to prohibit radio and television stations from presenting religious programs," the statement reports. "Actually, the Communications Act (the law that established the FCC and defines its authority) prohibits the FCC from censoring broadcast material and interfering with freedom in speech in broadcasting.

"The FCC cannot direct any broadcaster to present, or refrain from presenting, announcements or programs on religion, and the FCC cannot act as an arbitrator on the insights or accuracy of such material," the statement adds. "Broadcasters, not the FCC, nor any government agency, have the responsibility for selecting the programming that is aired by their stations."

According to the statement, the rumor has circulated periodically since 1975.

"The fact that the FCC has been forced to set up a Web site to deal with it states how problematic it is to them," said Sister Mary Ann Walsh RSM, associate director of communications for the national Conference of Catholic Bishops, by phone from Washington, D.C.

Sister Mary Ann said her office has received calls from around the country regarding the rumor, and it refers people to the FCC’s Web site.

The petition quoted in the letters and e-mails - RM-2493 - was actually filed in December 1974 by Jeremy Lansman and Lorenzo Milam. They had asked, among other things, that the FCC inquire into operating practices of stations licensed to religious organizations. The "Lansman-Milam petition" was denied by the FCC on August 1, 1975.

"Since 1975 to the present time, the FCC has received and responded to millions of inquiries about these rumors," the FCC’s statement said. "Many efforts have been made by the FCC to advise the public of their falsehood."

O’Hair and her two adult children vanished from San Antonio, TX, in 1995. Last December, a federal grand jury indicted a Michigan man on charges of kidnapping O’Hair, resulting in her death. Her body - along with the bodies of her son and daughter who are believed to have been kidnapped with their mother and likewise killed - have never been found.