| Transcript |
6 The Star/Dec. 23,1983
O'Hair Sees Herself as
Crusader for Common Sense
By Ed Martinez
Common sense, as one wag put it, isn't.
Thomas Payne entitled his treatise during
ore-Revolutionary times "Common
Sense," and the arguments included in it
helped form public opinion in favor of
America's departure from the British
Empire.
Austin, Texas, claims a leader in the
battle for common sense, according to the
self-proclaimed leader of American atheists, Madalyn Murray O'Hair, the woman
who single-handedly led the court battle
that resulted in the landmark decision by
the U.S. Supreme Court in Murray v.
Curlett that prohibited forced prayer sessions in public schools in America.
O'Hair founded the American Atheists,
a group within an organization known as
the Society of Separationists, Inc. From
this group's headquarters, a structure surrounded by tall, metal fences topped with
barbed wire, O'Hair conducts the work of
her organization.
O'Hair is a grandmotherly-looking
woman in her 60's. The public impression
of her is usually that of an acerbic, often
hostile guest on such shows as "The
Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson.
O'Hair is a frequent guest and panelist on
such shows, and almost invariably draws
fire because of her views on not only religion, but also women's liberation and
other timely subjects.
What is generally less well-known is
that O'Hair is an attorney, with a Doctor
of Jurisprudence degree, and also a social
worker. Her career in social work spanned
many years in Baltimore, where she
worked tirelessly to install one of the very
first government unions in America in the
Social Security Administration, which is
headquartered in that city. Her zeal in
causes for social change led to her ouster,
she claims, from the Social Security
Administration.
Later, after her successful court fight to
remove prayer from public schools, O'Hair
was involved in a number of legal actions
which resulted in her moving to Hawaii,
then to Mexico, and then to Austin, Tex.,
where she now lives and which she has
made her home.
Madalyn Murray O'Hair
O'Hair once ran for local public office in
Austin, unsuccessfully, and continues to
write and lecture world-wide.
Regardless of the public perception of
O'Hair and her stands, she continues to
emerge in print and in the media, surfacing repeatedly with actions and attitudes
that frequently alarm, shock, and, on
occasion, delight.
A good example is a recent story
reported by the International Gay News
Agency which reported that O'Hair had
expelled the Gay Atheist League of America from the American Atheists for,
according to the report, "requiring
O'Hair's group to accept the religion ofthe
religious mates of gay atheists."
A phone call to Gerald Tholen, vice-
president of American Atheists, at the
.group's headquarters in Austin, disclosed
that American Atheists "collaborate, they
are not affiliated" with various groups, of
which GALA is one. He indicated that
American Atheists are not in the business
of excommunicating any groups, but
Tholen did allow that the problem of religious mates of avowed atheists could and
did cause problems.
Tholen stated that this was a problem
with religious couples of different religions, and so could logically be expected to
be a problem in a marriage between an
atheist and a religious, whether straight
or gay.
Chalk up another tempest in a teapot,
probably resulting from lack of communication between the outspoken O'Hair and
the media.
O'Hair was one ofthe earliest people to
work for blacks and to demonstrate for
civil rights. However, even there her views
do not folow the herd. Although earning
her credentials as a social activist in civil
rights battles, O'Hair's comments on the
late Dr. Martin Luther King could be considered unorthodox.
"The only blacks that have been permitted to achieve anything have been the
preachers. I once met Dr. Martin Luther
King, and I asked him why he wanted to
keep the blacks on their knees. The blacks
will never get anywhere until they get up
off their knees. But Dr. King wanted to
keep them on their knees, praying."
Her outlook on gay liberation is another
example of her candid opinions. O'Hair
spoke ofthe recent efforts ofthe Metropolitan Community Church to gain admission
and recognition by the National Council
of Churches:
"This is another example of the gays
wanting to rush back into a burning
house. Gays have been insulted sexually,
and now they want to be insulted intellectually. This is the most flagrant masochism."
On the subject of women's lib, O'Hair
repeated a line that she said she uses constantly in lectures to women's groups:
"You show me who cleans the toilets in a
house and I'll tell you who's a liberated
woman."
O'Hair did express her opinion on the
subject of women's liberation in more
orthodox terms, however, when she stated
that she felt quite confident that if women
were paid equally for equal work, everything else would take care of itself.
O'Hair recently returned from a tour of
Soviet Russia with a group, and her
insights definitely bear repeating.
According to O'Hair, the Soviet determination to provide each person in Soviet
Russia with the best possible education
will enable them to ultimately overtake us
technologically, as well as militarily and
politically.
While holding no brief for Marxism,
O'Hair pointed out that when the Soviet
revolution occurred in 1917, 93 percent of
the population of Russia was illiterate. To
contrast that with modern Soviet achievements in science and industry is to illustrate dramatically what a society is
capable of and what we may expect from
that society in the next 66 years.
O'Hair describes herself as an anarchist, and believes firmly that a just order
can only be built on the rubble ofthe present order, whether capitalist or communist. She continues to study, to write and
to lecture, secure in her belief that her
work has value and must continue. O'Hair
readily admits that the very system with
which she so often finds fault is the very
system that permitted her own cause to he
vindicated through the courts. Nevertheless, Madalyn Murray O'Hair continues to
rail against what she considers the forces
of unreason. She dreams "the impossible
dream;" she fights "the unbeatable foe."
In an age shackled to a TV screen and
the bland repetition of the common wisdom, O'Hair's crusade for individuality
and common sense stands out like a lighthouse in a black sea of smugness and complacency.
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