Madalyn Murray O'Hair
Madalyn Murray O'Hair
Madalyn Murray O'Hair, who also used multiple pseudonyms, was an American atheist activist, founder of American Atheists, and the organization's president from 1963 to 1986. She created the first issues of American Atheist Magazine. One of her sons, Jon Garth Murray, became the nominal president of the organization from 1986 to 1995, but she remained de facto president during these nine years...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth13 April 1919
CountryUnited States of America
I want three words: Woman, Atheist, Anarchist. That's me.
An atheist strives for involvement in life and not escape into death.
Atheism may be defined as the mental attitude which unreservedly accepts the supremacy of reason and aims at establishing a lifestyle and ethical outlook verifiable by experience and the scientific method, independent of all arbitrary assumptions of authority and creeds.
Atheism is a very positive affirmation of man's ability to think for himself, to do for himself, to find answers to his own problems.
Intolerance has always been one of the cornerstones of Christianity - the glorious heritage of the Inquisition.
Religion has caused more misery to all of mankind in every stage of human history than any other single idea.
Religion has ever been anti-human, anti-woman, anti-life, anti-peace, anti-reason and anti-science. The god idea has been detrimental not only to humankind but to the earth. It is time now for reason, education and science to take over.
The relationships that people have - that are sexual, psychological, emotional - these relationships are not open to supervision by parents, schools, churches, or government. Nobody has any right to intervene at all in any kind of relationship like that.
In an unconstitutional partnership with the state, the church can impose the most irresistible, if covert, controls conceivable.
Religion is induced insanity.
Marx was wrong--religion is not the opiate of the masses, baseball is.
An Atheist loves himself and his fellow man instead of a god. An Atheist knows that heaven is something for which we should work now, here on earth, for all men together to enjoy.
Well, as a militant feminist, I believe in complete equality with men: intellectual, professional, economic, social and sexual; they're all equally essential, and they're all equally lacking in American society today.
But the most heinous crime of the Church has been perpetrated not against churchmen but against churchgoers. With its poisonous concepts of sin and divine punishment, it's warped and brainwashed countless millions. It would be impossible to calculate the psychic damage this has inflicted on generations of children who might have grown up into healthy, happy. productive, zestful human beings but for the burden of antisexual fear and guilt ingrained in them by the Church. This alone is enough to condemn religion.