Madalyn Murray O'Hair

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Madalyn Murray O'Hair (1983)

Madalyn Murray O'Hair (born April 13, 1919 as Madalyn Evalyn Maysin in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania , † September 29, 1995 in Austin , Texas ) was an American civil rights activist. It became a broader public through a lawsuit against Murray v. Curlett, later Abington School District v. Schempp, before the Supreme Court (Supreme Court)of the United States, who banned the hitherto common practice of daily prayers in US public schools. She founded the organization American Atheists , which campaigns for the interests of atheists and for the separation of church and state . Her activities made her highly controversial, and in 1964 Life Magazine named her "the most hated woman in America".

Life

Murray O'Hair was born in a suburb of Pittsburgh to John Irwin Mays and his wife Lena Christina (née Scholle). As a child, she was baptized Presbyterian . In 1941 she married John Henry Roths, but separated from him when they both signed up for the army, he to the United States Marine Corps , she to the Women's Army Corps . She worked as a cryptographer in Italy. There she had an affair with an officer, William Joseph Murray, who, as a Catholic, refused to divorce his wife. The affair had a son, William J. Murray III (called "Bill"), and Madalyn Mays was henceforth called "Madalyn Murray".

Back in the United States, she earned a BA from Ashland University. She studied at the South Texas College of Law until 1952 , but without obtaining the final degree and thus the admission to law. In 1954 their second son was born.

In 1960 she started a lawsuit because she felt it was unconstitutional that her son Bill should attend Bible readings at school. In that case, later known as Abington School District v. Schempp went to the Supreme Court and eventually got her right, and Bible readings in public schools were ruled unconstitutional. In the following years Madalyn Murray lived with her children in different parts of America and finally settled in Austin (Texas), where she married the naval officer Richard O'Hair in 1965.

With their public statements, which the religious found provocative (quote: "There is no God. There's no heaven. There's no hell. There are no angels. When you die, you go in the ground, the worms eat you.", In German : "There is no God. There is no heaven. There is no hell. There are no angels. If you die, you get into the ground and the worms eat you.") She kept offending. She also advocated sex lessons in school and described herself as “sexual libertarian”. In Austin she founded the American Atheists' association and was its chairman until her death.

Her son William J. Murray joined the Christian revival movement in 1980 . He publicly distanced himself from his mother's activities and publicly propagated the importance of the Christian faith.

Kidnapping and murder

On August 27, 1995, Madalyn Murray O'Hair, their son Jon, and their granddaughter Robin suddenly disappeared in Austin, Texas. In addition, large sums of money were withdrawn from the accounts of American Atheists , so that at times the suspicion arose that the three had gone with the money. It was not until years later that it was clarified that they had been the victims of extortionate kidnapping. David Roland Waters, a former American Atheists employee , and his accomplices Gary Paul Karr and Danny Fry murdered the three kidnap victims on September 29, 1995. Their remains were found in 2001 on a remote Texas ranch.

filming

In 2017, Netflix produced and released a feature film about the life of O'Hair entitled "America's Most Hated Woman". Melissa Leo plays the title role in it. However, the film is not a completely accurate representation of the events, as the falsely suspected black accounts are shown as real.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ History. In: atheists.org . May 4, 2018, accessed September 29, 2020 .
  2. ^ Lona Manning: The Murder of Madalyn Murray O'Hair: America's Most Hated Woman. In: Crime Magazine. September 23, 2003, archived from the original on August 20, 2011 ; accessed on October 6, 2018 (English). Ross E. Milloy: Bodies Identified as Those of Missing Atheist and Kin. In: nytimes.com . March 16, 2001, accessed October 6, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME O'Hair, Madalyn Murray
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mays, Madalyn Evalyn (maiden name)
SHORT DESCRIPTION American civil rights activist
DATE OF BIRTH April 13, 1919
PLACE OF BIRTH Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania ,
DATE OF DEATH September 29, 1995
Place of death Austin , Texas