I'm just learning about this woman's life, and I must say, I'm impressed by her courage - and outraged at the man who murdered such a strong voice for freedom.
From
wikipedia:
In 1960, Murray filed a lawsuit (Murray v. Curlett) against the Baltimore, Maryland School District in which she claimed it was unconstitutional for her son William to participate in Bible readings at Baltimore public schools. She further went on to claim that her son's refusal to partake in the Bible readings had made him the victim of violence from other classmates, violence that she claimed was overlooked by administrators. In 1963, this suit (amalgamated with the similar Abington School District v. Schempp) reached the United States Supreme Court which voted 8-1 in her favor, effectively banning "coercive" public prayer and Bible-reading at public schools in the United States. Madalyn Murray became so controversial in her opinions that, in 1964, Life magazine referred to her as "the most hated woman in America." Before Life, Robert Anton Wilson had written an article with the same title for Fact Magazine. It was the article in Fact, in fact, that had prompted Life to run their article.She was right - coercive (why the scare quotes, I wonder?) prayer IS wrong, and a blatant violation of the separation of church and state.
She went on to form an essential group dedicated to preserving the right of atheists like myself to not participate in religious rituals in which we don't believe:
Following the Supreme Court decision, she founded American Atheists, "a nationwide movement which defends the civil rights of non-believers, works for the separation of church and state, and addresses issues of First Amendment public policy." She acted as its first CEO before later handing that office on to her son Jon Garth.But her life wasn't without controversy - even her own son found fault with her:
In 1980, her son William converted to Christianity and was "born again" at a Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, where he took up work as a preacher. In sermons, he accused his mother of using him as a tool in her crusade, claiming she had lied about her reasons for filing the lawsuit against Maryland, and that he had never been the victim of any kind of violence at the hands of his Christian classmates. He said that the true reason for his mother filing the suit was her deep personal hatred for followers of Christianity. He said her zeal against Christianity was so great that it had taken over her life and rendered her incapable of seeing other people (himself included) as anything but either enemies or people who agreed with her every ideal.Human, and flawed, like us all, but dedicated to freedom of the nonbeliever - a very important freedom. Then she disappeared. She was slandered, Christians were suspected, but in the end one of her colleagues ended her fight for liberty:
Ultimately, a murder investigation focused on David Roland Waters, who had worked as an office manager and typesetter for American Atheists and who had previous convictions for violent crimes and also one for stealing $50,000 from the organization. Police concluded that he and his accomplices had kidnapped the O'Hairs, forced them to withdraw the missing funds, and then murdered them. Waters eventually pled guilty to reduced charges. Subsequently, in January 2001, Waters informed the police that the O'Hairs were buried on a ranch in Texas, and gave them the exact location of the ranch and the bodies. When the police excavated there, they discovered that the O'Hairs' bodies had been cut into dozens of pieces with a saw. The remains exhibited such extensive mutilation and successive decomposition that identification had to be made through dental records, by DNA testing, and in Madalyn O'Hair's case, by her prosthetic hip.She was denounced as abrasive, derided as deluded, and hated as much for her atheism as her fierce adherence to the separation of church and state. She was even blamed, urban legend-style, for the demise of the oh-so-important "Touched By An Angel" (gag) television program.
All in all, a fascinating individual, one I've really only just begun learning about.
(EDIT: typo!)