Ten years after disappearance, fiesty atheist still shapes a movement

Most Americans today would have a difficult time naming the man responsible for bringing the recent case to take "Under God" out of the Pledge of Allegiance to the Supreme Court, even though Michael Newdow is arguably America's most well-known - and most detested - living atheist. But in the 1960s, no one would have had a hard time remembering the name Madalyn Murray.

Murray was known for her role in the landmark 1963 Supreme Court decision in Murray vs. Curlett, which, combined with Abington vs. Schempp, ended prayer in public schools across the U.S. and turned her into the self-described "most hated woman in America."

Atheist legacy

"It is doubtful there is anyone in the United States who does not know the name Madalyn O'Hair," read the introduction to her 1966 pamphlet, "Why I Am an Atheist." Other publications concurred: Life magazine described her in 1964 as "anathema to millions of Americans."

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Ten years after her mysterious disappearance in August 1995, the legacy of activist Madalyn Murray O’Hair, depicted here in a file photo from the 1970’s, still influences atheists in America today. She was known for her role in the landmark 1963 Supreme Court decision in Murray vs. Curlett, which, combined with Abington vs. Schempp, ended prayer in public schools across the U.S. and turned her into the self-described “most hated woman in America.”

Now, 10 years after her mysterious disappearance in late August 1995, which culminated in the discovery years later of her grisly murder by a former employee, the legacy of this controversial activist still influences atheists in America today.

"Madalyn gave legitimacy to the atheist movement," said Ann Rowe Seaman, author of the recent biography, America's Most Hated Woman: The Life and Gruesome Death of Madalyn Murray O'Hair. "She put it on the map as a viable thing."

"She laid a foundation for atheists coming out of the closet," agreed Wendy Britton, a former acquaintance of the O'Hair family who organized an event for atheists in the Seattle area on Aug. 28 called "Madalyn Murray O'Hair: What She Stood For And Why Her Ideas Matter Today."

Born in 1919 to a poor family in Pittsburgh, she was raised by church-going parents but claimed she became an atheist after reading the complete Bible in her early teens. Madalyn Murray O'Hair became a household name when she contested the required moment of prayer and Bible reading in her son William's Baltimore-area public school in 1960.

Atheist-in-chief

The Supreme Court, then under Chief Justice Earl Warren, delivered its 8-1 verdict in favor of O'Hair on June 17, 1963, expanding an earlier school prayer decision in the 1962 Engel vs. Vitale case. Murray vs. Curlett, along with Abington vs. Schempp, eliminated not only obligatory school prayer but also mandatory Bible readings in public schools.

Undeterred by the backlash (O'Hair received death threats and was the victim of vandalism long after the 1963 decision), O'Hair continued to insert herself into church and state legal battles as the country's atheist-in-chief.

Later in 1963, O'Hair founded American Atheists, which remains one of the most activist atheist groups in the U.S. today. She used her platform as president of the organization to launch a number of other separation of church and state cases.

None, however, was as successful or as notorious as Murray vs. Curlett. In late 1963, she unsuccessfully sued the city of Baltimore to eliminate the city's tax exemptions for churches. She also challenged the school board of Baltimore to remove "Under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance and filed suit over Maryland's "moment of silence" law, also without success.

Still, these suits managed to keep O'Hair in the public eye long after the 1963 decision. "Her suits might have failed," said Seaman, "but because she was so outrageous, they put her in the spotlight. She was always colorful and good copy for newspapers and TV. She knew how to get people stirred up."

Making enemies

Her brazen style got her a great deal of press coverage, but also earned her enemies - surprisingly among atheists as well as Christians.

"I found more animosity among the atheist community toward her (than among Christians). They felt like she had a golden opportunity and had blown it," Seaman said. "She couldn't delegate authority, she was mean to her followers, she was unappreciative of their sacrifices. They worked for a pittance because they believed in her cause, and she would curse them and write terrible things about them and fire them.

"As time went on, Madalyn got more and more dictatorial, so she made a huge number of enemies in her own camp."

She was a "deeply corrupt, depraved human being," wrote Texas journalist Ted Dracos in an email interview. Dracos researched O'Hair's life for his 2003 book UnGodly: The Passions, Torments, and Murder of Atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair.

"As I was, a lot of people were attracted to Madalyn's staunch stances - the goodness of her Jeffersonian ideals when it came to religion and governance," Dracos continued. "Alas, they were taken in by her. Seduced by her brilliance."

Grisly end

O'Hair's death was as dramatic and controversial as her life. In August 1995, at age 76, she mysteriously disappeared, along with two of her family members, son Jon Garth Murray, 40, and granddaughter Robin Murray O'Hair, 30, who was William's estranged daughter.

When they were first reported missing, many thought the trio had run off with funds stolen from American Atheists; about $500,000 in gold coins were also missing from the organization. It wasn't until six years later, in early 2001, that their remains were discovered on a 5,000-acre Texas ranch.

The killings were particularly grisly - O'Hair had been dismembered and her body was only identified by matching the serial number on her metal hip replacement. David Waters, a former employee of O'Hair's organization, was convicted of the plot to extort and murder them. He died in prison of cancer in early 2003.