The NICE "Madalyn Murray O'Hair" Dies at 93

Remember how that loudmouth bully Madalyn Murray O’Hair was always proclaiming herself the heroine al all atheists and how she personally got prayer out of school? Well, you don’t hear much about the quiet heroes of separation of church and state like this lady:

I’m hoping the cat got into Heaven while the lynchers didn’t.

“Prominent atheist’s cat goes to Heaven.” I like it. It reminds me of Niels Bohr’s horseshoe.

Mrs. McCollum’s quiet and modest insistence that she be allowed to respect others’ beliefs without adopting them as her own provides a model for civil behavior.

What did the cat have to do with the whole thing?

Geez. People are so stupid.

You’d have to understand the mind-set of the general public at the time. Very different from today.

Here’s a snippet from an article I read from a 1945 article when her challenge was still at the local/Illinois level.

Hey! That’s how we used to talk in them days. :slight_smile:

This is the part that reminded me how lucky I am to be living in 2006:

And now, to give equal time, I’ll share another quote from a newspaper from the time, about the suit as it now proceded to the SCOTUS–

This was the position of the Southern Baptist Convention, Northern Baptist Convention, National Baptist Convention,Inc., and National Baptist Convention (not incorporated).

But, to put it into perspective, “four Baptist churches in the Champaign-Urbana area were giving financial support to the program objected to by Mrs. McCollum.”

I’m just amazed at how much the Southern Baptist Convention which I grew up with has changed over the years. This would never have happen in the last 10-20 years.

I had never heard of her. Thanks for posting this, Eve.

I read the title and was wondering how Madalyn Murray O’Hair had just died when I knew she had already died years ago. And I was thinking if anybody would have made the news by rising from the dead, it was her.

I read the obit in the Times today, and was impressed by her too. I lived in Champaign for four years, and never knew that such a crucial case had originated there.

Thank you for providing that, Eve. I knew of many non-shrill public atheists, but not this particular lady. It really warms my heart to learn of her.

And my condolences to the family of this noble lady.