Movie Review: The Most Hated Woman in America

Who is Madalyn Murray O’Hair

By Moristotle

Netflix’s latest streaming release, The Most Hated Woman in America, doesn’t flatter Madalyn Murray O’Hair, nor does it flatter the religious people who hated her for “standing up” (as she put it) for the First Amendment of the Constitution’s guarantee of religious freedom, including freedom not only to believe, but also not to believe. Her lawsuit, Murray v. Curlett, led to the landmark 1963 Supreme Court ruling that ended official Bible-reading in American public schools.

You don't need God alive & well in Durham, NC

Madalyn Murray O'Hair
(1919-1995)

The Center for Inquiry, whose mission is "to foster a secular society based on science, reason, freedom of inquiry, and humanist values," has posted "a big sign [in Durham, North Carolina that] proclaims: 'You don't need God to hope, to care, to love, to live,'" according to today's Durham Herald-Sun.
    The Center's spokesperson, Michelle A. Blackley, is quoted as saying, "The intention is to show you can live a positive life without religion." [At least, to proclaim it.]
    However, says the article (under the byline of Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan, whose report seems objective),

David Silverman, president of American Atheists, thinks the Center for Inquiry billboard is too soft.
    "American Atheists believes billboards should call out atheists," he said. "So many are closeted because of the stigma."

What stigma? The American Atheists website identifies the organization to be nonprofit, nonpolitical, and educational, "dedicated to the complete and absolute separation of state and church, accepting the explanation of Thomas Jefferson that the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States was meant to create a 'wall of separation' between state and church." The Jeffersonian stigma, I suppose?
    American Atheists arose out of a court case begun in 1959 by the family of Madalyn Murray O'Hair that challenged prayer recitation in the public schools.