This Atheist Leader Used To Be The Most Hated Woman In America

Eventually, the court case made its way to the Supreme Court in 1963. During this time, the Supreme Court dealt with two other similar court cases. The first one, Engel v. Vitale, was a year prior and the court ruled that it was unconstitutional to make students pray in school. The second case, Abington School District v. Schempp, happened in 1963, right before O’Hair’s case. Once again, the court ruled in favor of the plaintiff, stating it was unconstitutional to be forced to read the Bible.

Therefore, when O’Hair’s case made it to the Supreme Court, it was not the first time this type of lawsuit went to the Supreme Court. So just like with the previous two cases, O’Hair won her case. Because of her efforts, and the efforts of others, against prayer in the schools, the situation started to change. In 1964, Life Magazine wrote an article about O’Hair and her fight to end religion in schools. It was in this interview that O’Hair ‘s nickname “The most hated woman in America” made headlines.

O’Hair’s Activism Continues

However, O’Hair’s new nickname did not seem to bother her one bit. In fact, O’Hair remained an activist for the causes she truly believed in. During the 1960s and beyond, she continued to file many lawsuits over different situations. For instance, in the late 1960s, she filed a lawsuit against NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), because they read verses from the Bible in their Apollo 8 Genesis reading. However, this time O’Hairs efforts to bring the lawsuit to the Supreme Court failed because the court felt there was hardly any effect from the challenge’s reading.

O’Hair then started to appear on various television shows during the 1970s. However, her visits were often met with disgust from the television show hosts. While she appeared several times on The Phil Donahue Show, starting in 1967, Phil Donahue later said that she was a bully off the camera and mocked him for being Catholic. In March of 1970, she again appeared on The Phil Donahue Show along with Preacher Bob Harrington, where they debated religion.

During the road to the 1976 United States presidential election, Madalyn O’Hair became widely known for her support for Jimmy Carter. O’Hair spoke out on the several reasons why she supported Jimmy Carter. In her reasoning, O’Hair stated she foremost supported Jimmy Carter because he did not endorse religion in schools. She also added that she supported Carter because of his stance on environmental matters and that he also supported sex education in public schools.

The End Is Near

The more Madalyn O’Hair appeared on television shows, the more people in the United States started to despise her. However, O’Hair was enjoying her celebrity status and unaware of the plot that was about to unfold in her later life. O’Hair soon stopped appearing on so many television shows, and it seemed that people slowly forgot about her. Her sons grew up and soon started their own lives with their own families. However, not everyone forgot about Madalyn O’Hair and her Supreme Court case against religion in the schools.

In her personal life, her oldest son, Bill, become Evangelical and rejected his mother’s own beliefs. He began to blame the feelings and actions of his brother, Garth, and his daughter, Robin on his mother. Years after the death of his mother, Bill would admit that both his mother and his brother called him a traitor because he had turned to religion. However, no matter what happened between O’Hair, Garth, Robin, and himself, Bill never wanted their lives to end the way they did.

The Kidnapping and Murder of O’Hair, Her Son, And Her Granddaughter

On August 27, 1995, Bill Murray’s life would change forever when his daughter, Robin, his brother, Garth, and his mother disappeared. At first, it seemed as if the trio had left for an emergency because, on the door of their office, there was a typewritten note which read, “The Murray O’Hair family has been called out of town on an emergency basis. We do not know how long we will be gone at the time of the writing of this memo.”

However, it was not long before things started to look fishy. Upon their investigation, police discovered that Garth had ordered $600,000 worth of gold coins from a San Antonio jeweler. O’Hair’s organization, the American Atheists, received phone calls from the trio until September 28, 1995. Eventually, the FBI, IRS, and police realized that the Waters, a family where O’Hair had been accused of murdering a teenager, kidnapped the trio. Soon, a search was underway to find the family. The authorities then went in search of Waters and another man, Gary Karr.

Both the men were arrested and tried in court. Karr was found guilty of conspiracy to commit extortion, money laundering, and interstate transportation of stolen property. They found Waters guilty of robbery, kidnapping, and homicide. However, it would not be until 2001 when Waters finally told authorities the location of the bodies. He led investigators to a Texas ranch, where they found three bodies. Their legs had been sawed off, and because of decomposition, investigators could only identify the bodies as O’Hair, Garth, and Robin through dental records.

Where did we find this stuff? Here are our sources:

“The Controversial Figure who was Called the ‘Most Hated Woman In America.'” Steve Palace, Vintage News. November 2018.

“Bodies Identified as Those of Missing Atheist and Kin.” Ross E. Milloy, New York Times, March 2001.

“Who Was Madalyn Murray O’Hair?” Beliefnet.

“Why Madalyn Murray O’Hair Was the Most Hated Woman in America.” Sean Elder, Newsweek. March 2017.

” The Atheists’ Cold Case Gets Warmer”. Paul Duggan, The Washington Post, August 1999.

“The Son &”. The Washington Post, Henry Mitchell, November 1982.