GALLUP POLL: More than 8 out of 10 Americans identify with a Christian faith

[kfrost06]

It's evident you've neither read her autobiography nor knew her personally. On top of that, you don't know the circumstances of Murray v. Curlett. In that case, the Baltimore School District required Madelyn's son to bow his head reverentially and pray the Lord's Prayer. It was not optional; he had to do it, or else suffer detention. Madelyn asked the school district to excuse her son since he was an atheist, but they refused. So, the lawsuit was filed, and the rest is history.

Wrong yet again! Here is a word for word copy of the complaint...

"No. 119. In 1905 the Board of School Commissioners of Baltimore City adopted a rule pursuant to Art. 77, Sec. 202 of the Annotated Code of Maryland. The rule provided for the holding of opening exercises in the schools of the city, consisting primarily of the "reading, without comment, of a chapter in the Holy Bible and/or the use of the Lord's Prayer." The petitioners, Mrs. Madalyn Murray and her son, William J. Murray III, are both professed atheists. Following unsuccessful attempts to have the respondent school board rescind the rule, this suit was filed for mandamus to compel its rescission and cancellation. It was alleged that William was a student in a public school of the city and Mrs. Murray, his mother, was a taxpayer therein; that it was the practice under the rule to have a reading on each school morning from the King James version of the Bible; that at petitioners' insistence the rule was amended [1] to permit children to be excused from the exercise on request of the parent and that William had been excused pursuant thereto; that nevertheless the rule as amended was in violation of the petitioners' rights "to freedom of religion under the First and Fourteenth Amendments" and in violation of "the principle of separation between church and state, contained therein.... " The petition particularized the petitioners' atheistic beliefs and stated that the rule, as practiced, violated their rights "in that it threatens their religious liberty by placing a premium on belief as against non-belief and subjects their freedom of conscience to the rule of the majority; it pronounces belief in God as the source of all moral and spiritual values, equating these values with religious values, and thereby renders sinister, alien and suspect the beliefs and ideals of your Petitioners, promoting doubt and question of their morality, good citizenship and good faith."


You need to look up the facts of the case, as with most athiest her non-belief was not enough she forces her non-belief on others. He was excused and went to the hallway during such readings of the Bible. His mother, Madalyn, claimed he was tuanted for not taking part in the readings, he has denied that and said his mother made it up to get rid of the Bible readings.

[Tock]

Wrong yet again! Here is a word for word copy of the complaint...

that at petitioners' insistence the rule was amended [1] to permit children to be excused from the exercise on request of the parent and that William had been excused pursuant thereto;

You bet it was "at their insistence." The Baltimore School district didn't give much ground without a fight.

You need to look up the facts of the case, as with most athiest her non-belief was not enough she forces her non-belief on others. He was excused and went to the hallway during such readings of the Bible.

Well, yes, that happened, too, according to Madelyn's biography. But not until after the School District had told her that her kid had absolutely no choice but to pray, and to pray reverentially.

His mother, Madalyn, claimed he was tuanted for not taking part in the readings, he has denied that and said his mother made it up to get rid of the Bible readings.

I can understand why he would say that. It makes his mother look like The Evil Atheist Satan that Christian fundamentalists want her to be.

[Logan13]

sounds like a great family................

[Tock]

sounds like a great family................

I'll cheerfully agree that they were all co-dependant, and could have greatly benefited from lots of family therapy. In a lot of ways, they were all wacked-out. But from what I understand from people she routinely did business with, Madelyn was honest. Despite what has been said about her by her fundamentalist preacher son, she was plenty wealthy enough (thanks to $$$ given to her by Larry Flint, the publisher of Hustler magazine) that she didn't need to steal $$$ from her organization.

[kfrost06]

I can understand why he would say that. It makes his mother look like The Evil Atheist Satan that Christian fundamentalists want her to be.

and even the liberal arse Time magazine named her the "Most hated woman in America"