Thank You Bill Murray

No....not that Bill Murray. I mean William Murray, son of Madalyn Murray O'Hair and current chairman of the Religious Freedom Coalition.

I had been reading about the life of Madalyn and was amazed at the amount of brutality her family had to endure for their part in removing mandatory prayer from public schools. It ran the gamut from simple assault, to property damage, to segregation, to what may have been an attempted murder.

While reading about this I found myself feeling a great deal of gratitude to them, and especially Bill, for speaking out and standing up for what is right so that I and my children will never be faced with the same circumstances (hopefully).

With this in mind, I decided to write Mr. Murray a thank-you letter even though he has now become everything I despise about the religious right. Although I disagree with his current religious views and politics, saying "Thanks" is the right thing to do and I'd like to encourage all the members of UTI to do the same. His contact information and my letter are below:

Mr. William Murray
Religious Freedom Coalition
P.O. Box 77511
Washington, DC 20013
support@rfcnet.org
(540) 370-4200

Dear Mr. Murray,

I have mixed feelings about writing this because I don’t know if you will be offended over the subject matter or accept my sincere thanks for your past efforts.

I’ve been reading “The Atheist: Madalyn Murray O’Hair” by Bryan Le Beau. I suppose I shouldn’t be, but was, surprised at the level of violence and hatred visited upon you and your mother. I was disappointed to learn that you as a child were beaten up, made to sit at a different table during lunch, not allowed recess, almost pushed in front of a bus, etc.

I cannot imagine that type of pressure being placed upon my children and family. It must have been very terrible for you and everyone in your family.

I’m writing to say Thank You for being such a brave family and child when faced with such adversity.

Thank you for taking these beating so my children don’t have to. Thank you for being persecuted so my children will not be. Thank you for being hated as a child so my children will not be hated.

You see, I’m an atheist, my wife is a non-believer, and we’re planning to raise our children without religion. As an atheist, I would have been very upset at mandatory prayer in the classroom and may have put my children in the same situation you found yourself. But, because of your pioneering work, I feel comfortable approaching our school’s principal and teachers to let them know we are godless and would like our children to be minimally exposed to religion and prayer. I find it wonderful to know my children will not be faced with State enforced prayer like in Iran or Saudi Arabia, whether that prayer is Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, etc. My children will have the freedom to think for themselves and not feel ostracized, in part, because of you and your mother.

I know we now differ on our religious views. I’m not writing to give you a hard time or to be preached to. I’m writing because I feel a great indebtedness to you and wanted to say that although you don’t know my family or me, you have made our lives better.

I wish you the best. Please take care of yourself. Thank you again.

Most sincerely yours,