Craziest person in the universe: Madalyn Murray O’Hair

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iamnotaparakeet
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25 Jan 2012, 3:33 am

Link: http://creation.com/my-mother-the-most- ... in-america

Quote:

Interview with William J. Murray
by Robert Doolan

When William Murray was 30 he tried to rid his mother of her bad public image. He told her he couldn’t stand being the son of the most hated women in America.

She was furious. ‘Mom loves being called the most hated woman in America’, William, now 46, said on a recent visit to Australia sponsored by the Festival of Light. ‘She thought up the title herself during a magazine interview years ago.’

He said when his mother speaks at universities, the organizers put out leaflets saying, ‘Come hear the most hated woman in America.’

William Murray’s mother is perhaps America’s most famous atheist—Madalyn Murray O’Hair. She used him, while he was a student in 1963, to convince the United States Supreme Court to ban prayer and Bible-reading in public schools.

She has filed lawsuits against Pope John Paul II and evangelist Billy Graham and has battled through the US courts to try to stop astronauts from praying in space.

William has left such things behind him. He left atheism for Christianity, communism for Jesus Christ, and evolution for creation.

‘Of course, I did believe in evolution’, he said. ‘But now that I look at it, evolution makes absolutely no sense in the face of the Word of God.’

His mother took part in a debate on April 20, 1976, with Dr Duane Gish, from the Institute for Creation Research in California. It was a radio debate on station KTRH in Houston, Texas. She showed her lack of knowledge of science and the Bible when she said on radio that Adam’s skeleton should have been found if he had really existed. She also implied that evolution by chance was possible because the world is like a computer, and that Adam was the creator of fish!

Tadzio
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25 Jan 2012, 6:27 am

Hi iamnotaparakeet,

Craziest person in the universe: Madalyn Murray O’Hair???

As in Holland's "Weekends at Bellevue", most insane people think sane people are insane, especially when they get a wrong number from one of the Gods.

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pandabear
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25 Jan 2012, 10:08 am

iamnotaparakeet wrote:

When William Murray was 30 he tried to rid his mother of her bad public image. He told her he couldn’t stand being the son of the most hated women in America.

Exodus 20 wrote:

Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

William is a naughty, naughty boy.

arielhawksquill
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25 Jan 2012, 10:49 am

I worked for a time at the American Atheists headquarters, in their catalog division. I found Mrs. O'Hair to be both sane and pleasant. I admired her for taking her courageous stand against unconstitutional government endorsement of the Christian religion. Her younger son was president of the organization--only the older, churchy one had anything bad to say against her.

Fnord
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25 Jan 2012, 11:25 am

Madalyn Murray O’Hair can not possibly be the "craziest person in the universe" because she is dead.

Just because someone held or holds on to one or more unpopular opinions, that does not make that person "crazy" or even harmful - it just makes them unpopular with those who have their own personal stake in the more popular opinions. Unfortunately, that also means that the 'popular' crowd will likely do or say anything to discredit the 'unpopular' person or get them removed from any medium where their opinions might be heard or seen.

That's called "Censoring the Opposition".

iamnotaparakeet
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25 Jan 2012, 11:33 am

Trying to ban astronauts from praying in space and claiming that the Bible must be false unless Adam's grave is found is sane?

iamnotaparakeet
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25 Jan 2012, 11:34 am

Tadzio wrote:

most insane people think sane people are insane

They're actually right there.

arielhawksquill
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25 Jan 2012, 11:39 am

iamnotaparakeet wrote:

Trying to ban astronauts from praying in space and claiming that the Bible must be false unless Adam's grave is found is sane?

I don't know the particulars of that accusation, but I know she was a well-educated person with a logical mind. She also had a weakness for teasing rabid Christians with "blasphemous" ideas which she knew would make them angry.

iamnotaparakeet
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25 Jan 2012, 11:45 am

arielhawksquill wrote:

iamnotaparakeet wrote:

Trying to ban astronauts from praying in space and claiming that the Bible must be false unless Adam's grave is found is sane?

Okay, so she was a crazy troll.

arielhawksquill
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25 Jan 2012, 11:51 am

iamnotaparakeet wrote:

Trying to ban astronauts from praying in space and claiming that the Bible must be false unless Adam's grave is found is sane?

iamnotaparakeet
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25 Jan 2012, 11:58 am

arielhawksquill wrote:

iamnotaparakeet wrote:

Trying to ban astronauts from praying in space and claiming that the Bible must be false unless Adam's grave is found is sane?

I do believe you've already said that.

arielhawksquill
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25 Jan 2012, 12:40 pm

I believe so too! No idea why it double-posted.

visagrunt
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25 Jan 2012, 2:55 pm

Even if she were still alive today, I think you would have an uphill battle to demonstrate that she is the craziest person in Texas, let alone the universe.

Was she crazy? Leaving aside the ambiguity of the word, I think it is clear that she very clearly knew what her beliefs and her goals were, and she acted in a fashion consistent with the achievement of those goals. If swimming against the tide is crazy, then she is in very good company, and her craziness was no bad thing.

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naturalplastic
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27 Jan 2012, 10:05 am

Forbiding astronauts to pray is about as nutty as someone requiring astronauts to pray in space - to take a hypothetical (or school kids to pray, or pressuring the government to put "in god we trust" on the money- to take actual examples).

The fact that they havent found the grave of a Bronze Age dude marked with name 'Adam' is the least of the credbiity problems of the Bible. So that is a nutty argument.

Pointing out the lack of adam's remains is about as nutty as saying "big animals are heavier and sink farther so the fact that dinosaurs are found deeper in the geologic strata than smaller animals shows that they were all drowned in Noah's Flood"- one of the stock arguments creationists used in the 70's.

So you might say that she brought to Atheism the same degree of nuttiness that has long existed among the religous. BFD!

MCalavera
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27 Jan 2012, 11:02 am

She was crazy, that is true. But I wouldn't say the craziest. I leave that honor to the extremely religious.

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