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Why did Life Magazine dub her "the most hated woman in America"?
Did she unravel the moral fiber of America or defend the
Constitution? They found her heaped in a shallow grave, sawed up,
and burned. Thus ended Madalyn Murray O'Hair, the articulate
"atheist bitch" whose 1963 U.S. Supreme Court case ended school
prayer. Her Christian-baiting lawsuits spanned three more decades;
she was on TV all over the country, foul-mouthed, witty, and
passionate, launching today's culture wars over same-sex marriage
and faith-based initiatives. She was a man-hater who loved sex, a
bully whose heart broke for the downtrodden. She was accused of
schizophrenia, alcoholism, and embezzlement, but never cowardice or
sloth. She was an ideologue who spewed toxic rage even at the
followers who made her a millionaire. She was a doting mother who
accosted people to ask them to be sexual partners for her lonely
children, and whose cannibalistic love led her children to their
grave. She thrived on her fame, but just as the curtain of
obscurity began to lower, the family vanished in one of the
strangest of America's true crimes. This is the real story of "the
most hated woman in America," by the only author to interview the
killer and those close to him and to witness the family's secret
burial in Austin, Texas. From the First Chapter The sky was gray
and drizzling, but it had stopped at the funeral home by quarter to
nine. Billy Murray hadn't spoken to his three family members for
more than twenty years, but he wanted to give them a decent burial.
Bill was an ordained minister, but he didn't pray over the charred,
sawed-up remains. "Baptists don't pray for the dead," he said.
"They either accept Christ before they died or they didn't." He had
his mother cremated in accordance with her oft-expressed wish. Her
urn sat at the head of the burial vault, as was appropriate, for
she had ruled the other two with an iron hand. She was Madalyn
Murray O'Hair, 76, founder of American Atheists, and the Most Hated
Woman in America-a sobriquet she relished. The other two were his
half-brother, Jon Garth Murray, 40, and his daughter, Robin
Murray-O'Hair, 30. It had taken five years to find them and bring
them to the cemetery for the service, which was kept secret from
the public. It was their second burial. Jerry Carruth, the
prosecutor who had searched for the family for nearly four years,
had watched them being excavated from their shallow mass grave on a
South Texas ranch some months before. He was watching the
shoveling, looking for the hip replacement joint Madalyn had gotten
in 1988. When they found that, he'd know he'd found Madalyn. "There
it was," he said, "shining in the sun like a trailer hitch."
Why did Life Magazine dub her "the most hated woman in America"?
Did she unravel the moral fiber of America or defend the
Constitution? They found her heaped in a shallow grave, sawed up,
and burned. Thus ended Madalyn Murray O'Hair, the articulate
"atheist bitch" whose 1963 U.S. Supreme Court case ended school
prayer. Her Christian-baiting lawsuits spanned three more decades;
she was on TV all over the country, foul-mouthed, witty, and
passionate, launching today's culture wars over same-sex marriage
and faith-based initiatives. She was a man-hater who loved sex, a
bully whose heart broke for the downtrodden. She was accused of
schizophrenia, alcoholism, and embezzlement, but never cowardice or
sloth. She was an ideologue who spewed toxic rage even at the
followers who made her a millionaire. She was a doting mother who
accosted people to ask them to be sexual partners for her lonely
children, and whose cannibalistic love led her children to their
grave. She thrived on her fame, but just as the curtain of
obscurity began to lower, the family vanished in one of the
strangest of America's true crimes. This is the real story of "the
most hated woman in America," by the only author to interview the
killer and those close to him and to witness the family's secret
burial in Austin, Texas. From the First Chapter The sky was gray
and drizzling, but it had stopped at the funeral home by quarter to
nine. Billy Murray hadn't spoken to his three family members for
more than twenty years, but he wanted to give them a decent burial.
Bill was an ordained minister, but he didn't pray over the charred,
sawed-up remains. "Baptists don't pray for the dead," he said.
"They either accept Christ before they died or they didn't." He had
his mother cremated in accordance with her oft-expressed wish. Her
urn sat at the head of the burial vault, as was appropriate, for
she had ruled the other two with an iron hand. She was Madalyn
Murray O'Hair, 76, founder of American Atheists, and the Most Hated
Woman in America-a sobriquet she relished. The other two were his
half-brother, Jon Garth Murray, 40, and his daughter, Robin
Murray-O'Hair, 30. It had taken five years to find them and bring
them to the cemetery for the service, which was kept secret from
the public. It was their second burial. Jerry Carruth, the
prosecutor who had searched for the family for nearly four years,
had watched them being excavated from their shallow mass grave on a
South Texas ranch some months before. He was watching the
shoveling, looking for the hip replacement joint Madalyn had gotten
in 1988. When they found that, he'd know he'd found Madalyn. "There
it was," he said, "shining in the sun like a trailer hitch."
By 1987 Swaggart was one of the most popular video preachers in the
world, with a weekly television audience of 2.1 million in the US
and a worldwide audience of millions more in 143 countries. But
then, in a cheerless motel west of New Orleans, Jimmy's life and
ministry took a calamitous turn. This the tale of the rise of two
intimately linked colossi of the American century: Pentecostalism,
the fastest growing religious movement in the world, and its "evil
twin," Rock 'n' Roll. A major theme of the book is how the
religious ecstasy of Pentecostalism - the rousing music, the
speaking in tongues, the reception of the Spirit - combined with
its severe sexual repression leads to the kind of furtive acting
out that brought down not only Jimmy Swaggart but also other
evangelists. It is the story, too, of the rapid rise of the
Religious Right, with its competing personalities and ideologies.
In the end, the author sees Jimmy as a victim - like many others -
of a primitive faith colliding with the forces of the late 20th
century fame.
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