TRUE TRANSFORMATION

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Life is dramatically different for William J. Murray today than it was in 1960 when his mother filed a lawsuit against a Baltimore school district that eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court.

Today Murray, the son of well-known atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair, preaches in churches, speaks about socially conservative issues and leads an organization aimed at getting prayer back in school.

Murray will speak at 7 p.m. Saturday and again at 11 a.m. Sunday at New Salem Baptist Church north of Marble Hill.

He was 17 years old when the U.S. Supreme Court issued its 1963 ruling that prayer in school was unconstitutional. Now he serves as founder and chairman of the Religious Freedom Coalition in Washington, D.C.

Most of Murray's talks at churches are about his upbringing in an atheist and Marxist home. "I tell them what it was like to live in a very dysfunctional home," he said in a telephone interview Wednesday from his office in Virginia.

"That appeals to most people when they realize that they come from the same kind of home."

Randy Poole, pastor of New Salem Baptist Church where Murray will be speaking, said "If a skeptic were to come they'd get an inside track to what he came from."

But the story can also teach Christians about compassion as Murray relates the latest tragedy about his mother, brother and daughter, who were kidnapped and murdered in 1995, Poole said.

Murray said his mother was a product of a dysfunctional home and raised her children in much the same environment. "There wasn't any room for God in my family. That wasn't how we identified."

From an early age Murray and his younger brother, Jon, were taught that the most important things in life were "booze, food, sex and fast cars."

"My mother bought me a case of beer for my 16th birthday. She thought that was an appropriate gift for a teen-age boy."

Murray tried to live that same lifestyle for a time. But eventually he began searching for more.

"I realized you could only live that lifestyle for so long before it destroys you," he said.

Around age 30, he began to read the Bible and became a Christian three years later. "It was not a fast process but a realization that my life was killing me."

After he announced his faith, Murray's family had little to do with him. His mother remained a devout atheist until her death.

Murray said her lifestyle is partly to blame for her death. "I believe they wouldn't have been murdered today if they hadn't followed that pattern," he said.

Murray's mother, brother and daughter, Robin, disappeared in 1995. It is believed that they were murdered in August 1995 by one of their employees. Charges were filed in December against Gary Karr for their kidnapping and murder.

Murray said his mother lived "without restraint" and wanted to destroy the free enterprise system -- not make a statement about the separation of church and state -- with the Supreme Court case.

"My mother was a Marxist and because of her lifestyle she couldn't hold a job. She wanted the government to force somebody to employ her -- that was her goal at the time, the destruction of a free enterprise system. Later she said it was about separation of church and state."

But "she also found out how much money she could make and then it became political," Murray said.

Over the past 40 years, issues about prayer in school have plagued the Supreme Court. Last month, the court issued a ruling that said school districts cannot permit students to lead stadium crowds in prayer before sporting events.

Murray said the ruling is wrong both socially and constitutionally.

The Constitution was not "written to limit free speech, but the court is constantly ruling against speech in the name of the Constitution," he said.

"Our founding fathers would be horrified if they knew" that the government was limiting speech, Murray said. The majority of people are Christians and believe that prayer should be allowed, but the courts disagree. "You can't muzzle the majority."

If private groups are forced to change their creed and beliefs to accept minority beliefs and practices, "where does that stop?" Murray asked. He likened the situation to one in the former Soviet Union where government officials would sit in the back pew of a church and monitor what the pastor said.

"That's what we are going to finally wind up with to have this obscene political correctness," Murray said.

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Web address for the Religious Freedom Coalition is www.rfcnet.org

Chronology of School Prayer Debate

1948

In McCollum v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court strikes down religious instruction in public schools.

1952

In Zorach v. Clauson, the Supreme Court again upheld a New York statute allowing children to be released from school for religious instruction.

1954

The Supreme Court let stand a lower court ruling, Tudor v. Board of Education, against the distribution of Bibles by outside groups like the Gideons.

1962

The Supreme Court ruled in Engel v. Vitale that a prayer written by the New York Board of Regents to be recited in the public schools was unconstitutional, even though it was nondenominational.

1963

(June 17) The Supreme Court, in a ruling that combined two cases Abington Township School District v. Schempp and Murray v. Curlett determined that prayers written for public school use by the states and holding daily Bible readings were unconstitutional.

1970

The U.S. Senate, before approving legislation to provide for an Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution, added language allowing for nondenominational prayer in public buildings. No further action was taken on the ERA in that Congress.

1979

Sen. Jesse Helms introduced a legislative rider that would have forbidden the

Supreme Court to review any case concerning voluntary prayer in the public schools.

1981

In Widmar v. Vincent, the Supreme Court sanctioned the concept of a "limited public forum" when university facilities may be made available to student groups, including religious groups, for extracurricular meetings.

1984

Congress enacted the Equal Access Act, affecting all public secondary schools that receive federal funds. It requires that religious clubs be permitted in public schools if other clubs that are not related to the curriculum are already allowed. The religious groups must be run by students themselves and must not meet during class time.

1985

In Wallace v. Jaffree, the Court declared unconstitutional an Alabama law that allowed for a minute of silence for meditation or voluntary prayer.

1992

In Lee v. Weisman the Court ruled that a graduation prayer by a clergyman invited by school officials to take part in the ceremony, was unconstitutional. Student-initiated prayers at graduation appear to be constitutional.

1995

Rep. Ernest Istook, R-Okla., introduced a constitutional amendment that would have allowed school prayer in public schools.

1996

The Supreme Court decides not to hear a case that questioned the constitutionality of a Mississippi law that allowed students or teachers to conduct organized prayer sessions at school assemblies, sporting events, over the intercom or in classrooms.

1998

An Alabama bill passes that requires every public school classroom in the state to begin the day with a "brief period of quiet reflection."

U.S. Supreme Court finds that Religious Freedom Restoration Act is unconstitutional. Schools have more freedom to decide if students can wear religious garb or be excused from classes that conflict with their religious beliefs.

Istook amendment passes June 4 but doesn't receive two-thirds majority it needs to proceed to Senate.

1999

Detroit Board of Education president proposes that prayer rooms be established in all Detroit public schools.

A New Hampshire bill proposes allowing individual school districts to have students recite the Lord's Prayer in school.

A Florida House bill proposed would allow school districts to impose a brief opening or closing message or both at noncompulsory activities.

2000

February: Virginia Senate approves bill that requires teachers to hold up to one minute of silence in classroom.

Proposed Georgia bill would allow public schools to display Ten Commandments; another would permit "student-initiated spoken prayer" during school day. Teachers would have been given no authority to interrupt or supervise the prayer.

March: Kentucky General Assembly passes resolution requiring public schools to include lessons on Christian influences in America and calling for a display of the Ten Commandments in schools and on the State Capitol grounds.

June: The Supreme Court ruled in Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe, that a Texas school district policy allowing student prayer was unconstitutional. The policy allowed student representatives to deliver a public invocation before home high school football games.

Sources: www.crisis.net/church-state/chronolgy.htm and http://atheism.about.com/religion/atheism/library/chronologies