William J. Murray

William J. "Bill" Murray III (born May 25, 1946) is an American author, Baptist minister, and social conservative lobbyist who serves as the chairman of the Religious Freedom Coalition, a non-profit organization in Washington, D.C. It lobbies Congress on issues related to aiding Christians in Islamic and Communist countries.

The son of the late Madalyn Murray O'Hair, known as an atheist activist, Murray was named as the plaintiff in his mother's challenge to mandatory prayer and Bible reading in public schools. After it was consolidated and heard as Abington School District v. Schempp (1963), the US Supreme Court ruled that mandatory Bible reading was unconstitutional. After becoming a Christian in 1980, Murray published a memoir, My Life Without God (1982), about his spiritual journey.

Biography

William J. Murray III (known as Bill) was born in Ohio in 1946, after his mother Madalyn Mays Roths had returned from service in Italy during World War II. His father was William J. Murray Jr., a married Catholic officer with whom she had an affair while they were both stationed in Italy. He refused to get a divorce. Also married at the time, Madalyn divorced her husband. She named the boy after his father. She also took the surname Murray.

Murray moved with Bill to Baltimore, where her mother and brother lived. In 1954 Bill's half-brother Jon Garth Murray was born. Their mother became an atheist activist when the boys were still young and attending public school.^[1] In 1960 she gained national attention by filing a lawsuit challenging the practice of compulsory prayer and Bible reading in public schools as unconstitutional. She named her son Willliam Murray III as plaintiff. The Murrays' case, Murray v. Curlett, was folded into Abington School District v. Schempp before the Supreme Court of the United States heard the issues. In 1963 it ruled that mandatory Bible reading in public schools was unconstitutional. The year before it had overturned the practice of mandatory prayers in public schools.

Murray III later worked in various industries in the private sector, including the airline industry.^[2] He had a daughter Robin with his high school girlfriend, who stayed with his family after running away from home.

In 1980 Murray became a Christian. Learning of his conversion, his mother commented: "One could call this a postnatal abortion on the part of a mother, I guess; I repudiate him entirely and completely for now and all times. He is beyond human forgiveness."^[3] He became a Baptist minister. He and his mother Madalyn Murray O'Hair were estranged by his action, as he was from his daughter and brother, who shared his mother's household and were deeply involved with the American Atheists organization. O'Hair had legally adopted Robin. She was legally both her uncle Garth's niece and half-sister.

In 1995 his mother, Murray's daughter Robin, and his half-brother Jon Garth Murray disappeared from their home and office. It was learned that they were kidnapped, held for about a month, and subject to extortion of $600,000 before they were killed in a remote area outside Austin, Texas. Their bodies were not found until January 2001.^[4] The plot was led by David Roland Waters, an ex-convict and former employee of the American Atheists, who had been fired for theft of $54,000; and two accomplices.^[5]

Bibliography

• My Life Without God. Harvest House Publishers, 1982 ISBN 0-7369-0315-1.
• The Church Is Not for Perfect People Harvest House Publishers, 1987 ISBN 0-89081-602-6
• Let Us Pray: A Plea for Prayer in Our Schools 1995 ISBN 0-688-14563-9
• Stop the Y2K Madness! 1999 ISBN 0-940917-04-1
• The Pledge: One Nation Under God. AMG 2007, ISBN 0-89957-035-6, ISBN 978-0-89957-035-8. Freeware written by Todd Akin
• Utopian Road to Hell: Enslaving America and the World with Central Planning WND Books 2016 ISBN 1944229086, ISBN 978-1944229085

References

External links

• Religion Freedom Coalition - Official RFC website
• Government is Not God - William J. Murray's blog