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Betrayal, theft, murder<\/strong>, and revenge. What lies behind the story of “American Atheists”<\/strong> and its founder Madalyn Murray O’Hair.<\/i><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Would the world be a better place without religions<\/strong>?<\/p>\n That is what the most militant irreligious activists<\/strong> constantly remind us, emphasizing their moral and intellectual superiority and the dark history<\/strong> of religions.<\/p>\n Yet perhaps they are unfamiliar with the history of “American Atheists”<\/i><\/mark><\/strong>, the largest and oldest militant association of nonbelievers in the Western world.<\/p>\n A tragic story<\/strong> of greed, revenge, kidnappings, murders, and half a million dollars stolen.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Organized atheism in the United States has a long and little-known history connected to Madalyn Murray O’Hair<\/b><\/mark>.<\/p>\n She became famous in 1960 after winning a lawsuit that made the recitation of prayers<\/strong> in public schools unconstitutional (she launched many other similar legal battles afterward, though without the same success).<\/p>\n Murray O’Hair was described<\/a><\/em><\/b> as \u201cthe most hated woman in America,\u201d but what contributed most to that reputation was her betrayal of her country<\/strong> when she unsuccessfully tried to become a citizen of the Soviet Union<\/strong>, promoting the efforts of the \u201ccommunist revolution.\u201d<\/p>\n She was in fact an admirer of Stalinism<\/strong>, which she viewed as the first true atheist dictatorship in history. A real paradise.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In addition to being rejected by the Soviets, Murray O’Hair<\/strong> endured many personal defeats, beginning with those within her own family.<\/p>\n After multiple divorces, her son William J. Murray<\/strong> (known as Bill) became an alcoholic and drug addict, as well as a very young father to a little girl he was unable to care for. Murray O’Hair<\/strong> accepted little Robin as her own daughter.<\/p>\n Once he became an adult, however, Bill managed to rebuild his life: \u201cI turned to a rehabilitation center to stop drinking,\u201d<\/i> he wrote, \u201cand there I first became aware of the presence of a loving God<\/strong>.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n In 1980 he converted to Christianity<\/strong>, eventually even becoming a Baptist minister with the intention of \u201cundoing\u201d<\/strong> what his mother was doing. Today he leads the Religious Freedom Coalition<\/em>, an organization that defends Christians in Muslim and former communist countries.<\/p>\n When Murray O’Hair<\/strong> learned of her son\u2019s conversion, she declared<\/a><\/em><\/b>: \u201cThis could be called a postnatal abortion<\/strong> by a mother. I totally repudiate him<\/strong> forever. What he has done is beyond human forgiveness.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n Bill<\/strong> responded in kind: \u201cThe family I come from is the mother of all dysfunctional families<\/strong>. Every misfit in America is sending my mother letters of praise with a check enclosed.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n Stay updated by subscribing<\/strong> to our new channels:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Madalyn Murray O’Hair<\/strong> was already famous for founding American Atheists<\/em> in 1963, serving as its first chief executive officer and president until 1986.<\/p>\n For more than twenty years she was the public voice and face of American secularism<\/strong>, appearing on television and radio programs while fighting religious influence with all her strength.<\/p>\n She launched dozens of legal battles<\/strong> against churches, priests, and charitable institutions. She even sued NASA<\/strong> in an attempt to prevent the Presbyterian astronaut Buzz Aldrin from taking the Eucharist to the Moon.<\/p>\n She never achieved much success: while celebrating her appearances in Hollywood films and writing speeches for pornographic publisher Larry Flynt<\/strong>, the nation elected the Christian Ronald Reagan<\/strong> as president, and in 1990 her anti-theistic \u201cindoctrination\u201d television programs were canceled.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As if that were not enough, by the late 1980s the American Internal Revenue Service<\/strong> (IRS) sued her for using public assets<\/strong> for personal purposes.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, in California, Murray O’Hair<\/b> was accused of fraud<\/strong> for attempting to gain control of a $15 million property belonging to a very elderly atheist activist.<\/p>\n She won the first ruling, but the plaintiff promised to appeal and, if successful, to wipe out American Atheists<\/strong><\/em>, which was already nearly bankrupt.<\/p>\n Convinced she would ultimately lose, she liquidated and hid most of her assets, totaling more than $1 million<\/strong>.<\/p>\n At the time she was 77 years old<\/strong>, walking with a walker because of health problems, while suffering from diabetes and obesity.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Then something completely unexpected<\/strong> happened.<\/p>\n On August 28, 1995<\/strong>, employees of American Atheists<\/em> found a note hanging on the office door.<\/p>\n The note stated that the Murray O’Hair family had left town because of an emergency. A year later they were officially declared missing<\/strong>: everyone believed the family had fled with the organization\u2019s assets.<\/p>\n This theory was promoted by David Roland Waters<\/strong>, the former office manager whom she had fired after yet another argument.<\/p>\n The conflict began when the Murray O’Hair family accused Waters of embezzling $54,000<\/strong> belonging to the organization. During that dispute, Madalyn publicly revealed what she knew about him: he was a criminal<\/strong>, previously convicted of killing a young man at the age of 17 and assaulting his own mother.<\/p>\n That revelation fueled the man\u2019s rage and hatred toward the organization\u2019s founder, who never explained<\/strong> why she had appointed him office manager despite his past.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A private investigator<\/strong> began searching for the Murray O’Hair family.<\/p>\n It did not take long for him to discover that, the month before disappearing, the woman had ordered $600,000<\/strong> worth of gold coins from a jeweler.<\/p>\n At the property of David Ronald Waters<\/strong>, the former office manager of American Atheists<\/em>, investigators found DNA traces consistent with the missing family, as well as a hacksaw.<\/p>\n The man confessed that he had carried out the kidnapping together with accomplices, taken the gold coins, and ultimately dismembered the bodies<\/strong> of the leaders of American atheism (the woman and her children), burying the remains in a shallow grave.<\/p>\n The reports of the time<\/a><\/em><\/b> described the cold indifference of the American public upon hearing the tragic fate of Madalyn Murray O’Hair<\/strong>: \u201cThe world shrugged. Ashes to ashes.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n <\/p>\n A twisted story<\/strong> of greed, revenge, kidnappings, murders, and stolen money. On such foundations<\/strong> the world\u2019s leading atheist organization was built.<\/p>\n Its founder was a 1960s iconoclast<\/strong>, the best-known secular personality in America, the country\u2019s leading public blasphemer.<\/p>\n A tremendously unfortunate woman, brutally tortured and murdered by what had once been her closest collaborator<\/strong> outside the family: the former director of American Atheists<\/em>.<\/p>\n
\nWho Was Madalyn Murray O’Hair?<\/h2>\n
The Conversion of Her Son<\/h2>\n
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\nThe Birth of American Atheists<\/h2>\n
Legal Troubles: Fraud and Debt<\/h2>\n
The Mysterious Disappearance in 1995<\/h2>\n
Massacred by the Organization\u2019s Secretary<\/h2>\n
A Macabre Story<\/h2>\n