Epiphany!

 Epiphany!

Today is the first day of the liturgical year: Epiphany (also known as Epiphanytide) is the period (following Christmastide) between January 6 and Ash Wednesday.  This time of year we commemorate three events pertaining to Christ.  First, we commemorate Jesus' baptism by His cousin John the Baptist in the Jordan river.  Second, we commemorate the wedding in Cana when Jesus turned water into wine.  And third, and foremost, we commemorate the divine manifestation of Jesus Christ through the visit of the Biblical Magi.  So, to better understand this, let's take a look at the people we will emphasize.  First, there is the Magi.  Then, there is King Herod the Great.  You see, where the Messiah would be born and when the Messiah would be born were two bits of information that were important to finding the Messiah.  The thing is: neither the Magi nor King Herod knew both bits of information.  Due to the many years of studying the words of the prophets, King Herod knew WHERE the Messiah would be born, but he did not know WHEN He would be born.  This may be why he had not heard the the Massiah among them would be a child.  On the other hand, the Magi knew WHEN the Messiah would be born (due to following the Star of Bethlehem or Star of David), but they were not sure WHERE the Messiah would be born.  Since Jerusalem was and is the capital of Israel and they knew the Star would shine over Judea, this may be why they sought the Messiah in Jerusalem, instead of Bethlehem.  But neither knew both.  And as you will see, after knowing both, one will use the information with good intentions and the other will use the information for bad intentions.  So, who were the Magi and King Herod the Great?

First, who were the Magi?  In English, the term "magi" is most commonly used in reference to the Gospel of Matthew's "wise men from the East," or "three wise men."  Magi is derived from the Latin: magus (genitive: magī) of the second declension, Ancient Greek "mágos," meaning: "magician."  Similarly, it is also derived from the Latin: "sapientes homines," from the Ancient Greek "οι σοφοί" or "oi sofoí," meaning "sages."  Few people know what the noun: "sage" is, unless it's being referred to as a culinary herb.  However, when we use the noun: "sage" when referring to a person, it is defined as: a profoundly wise man or learned person, especially a distinguished philosopher or scientist.  They were popularly known as the "wisest of the wise."  In other words, they were men who "knew everything about everything."  The plural "magi" entered the English language around 1200 A.D., in reference to the Biblical Magi of 

Matthew 2:1

.  Therefore, we know there was more than one of them.  The EXACT number is not known, however, because they came bearing three gifts, it is assumed that there were three of them.  There's not much that is known of the Magi, aside from them being the first Gentiles to visit and worship Jesus, except for two things.  First, they were Kings of their on lands, as well as advanced in age.  And second, they were nocturnal scribes who studied the constellations.  Me?  I use stargazing as a mean of recreation.  Modern cultures would classify

astrology

as being a part of

the occults

.  Even the Prophets from the Old Testament were against astrology in some way or another.  For example, "

All the counsel you have received has only worn you out!  Let your astrologers come forward, those stargazers who make predictions month by month, let them save you from what is coming upon you

." --

Isaiah 47:13

.  However, during Biblical times, in the land of Persia (

now Iran

),

astrology

was classified as a

Science

.  No, they didn't work the graveyard shift at a planetarium (

I don't think

), although it would be a cool thing to do.  Nevertheless, another way they were looked at was as

:

"

astrologers

" or "

men of science

."  Traditions identify a variety of different names for the Magi.  In the Western Christian church they have been commonly known as

:

• Melchior (Melichior, Melchyor), King of Arabia, Place of Gold.
  
• Balthasar (Bithisarea, Balthassar), King of Sheba, Known for having Frankincense.
  
• Caspar (or Gaspar), King of Tarsus, Land of Myrrh.
  

Hence the three gifts: Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh.

Now, let's look at the astrological logic on how they follow the Star of David (or the Star to Bethlehem).  Firstly, we have the Scripture from the Torah or the Old Testament from the Holy Bible, Numbers 24-17-20: "I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near.  A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel.  He will crush the foreheads of Moab, the skulls of all the people of Sheth.  Edom will be conquered; Seir, his enemy, will be conquered, but Israel will grow strong.  A ruler will come out of Jacob and destroy the survivors of the city."  Secondly we have the alignment of the stars and planets.  We have Jupiter.  The name of the greatest god of Roman mythology, not to mention the largest planet of our Solar System.  Jupiter has been known from ages-old to the present as the "King Planet."  This greatest of planets is a "gas giant," approximately eleven times the size of Earth and over 300 times more massive.  It circles the Sun far beyond Earth, in an orbit of about twelve years duration.  In ancient times, planets like Jupiter were considered "wandering stars."  Since humans have assigned kingly qualities to this giant wanderer for dozens of centuries, might it have something to do with our Star announcing the birth of a King?  That will be our working theory right now.  The gas giant Jupiter, many times larger than Earth, is visible to the naked eye It’s not enough to have a kingly name and reputation, of course.  To be Matthew’s Star, Jupiter as viewed from Earth would have to do peculiar things.  More precisely, as considered by a magus viewing from the Middle East during the years 2 and 1 B.C., Jupiter’s movements would have to satisfy all nine identifying characteristics of the Star.  In September of 2 B.C. at the time of the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, Jupiter began to do just that.  A magus watching Jupiter that September saw two objects moving so close that they appeared to touch.  This close approach of celestial bodies is sometimes called a "conjunction."  Our Middle Eastern viewer saw Jupiter coming into a close conjunction with the star: Regulus.  Regulus takes its name from the word root which yields our word "regal."  The Babylonians called: Regulus Sharu, which means "king."  The Romans called: Regulus Rex, which means "king."  So to start things, at the beginning of the new Jewish year, the Planet of Kings met the Star of Kings.  This conjunction may have indicated kingship in a forceful way to a Babylonian magus (satisfying one qualification for the Star), but would it have startled him?  Probably not.  But there are nine qualifications of the Star of Bethlehem.  Many are still missing.  How did Jupiter’s movement relate to the Jewish nation?  Is its association with the Jewish New Year enough?  Where is an indication of a birth?  Some might say that the triple conjunction by itself would indicate to a magus that a new king was on the scene.  Maybe.  But there is more.  The Jewish nation is composed of twelve ancient tribes.  Jewish prophecy states that a particular tribe will bring forth the Messiah: the tribe of Judah. The symbol of Judah’s tribe is the "lion."  You can see these connections in an ancient prediction of Messiah’s coming found in the first book of the Holy Bible: the Book of Genesis, Chapter 49:9-10.  This association of Messiah with the tribe of Judah and with the lion is a productive clue.  It clarifies the connection between Jupiter’s behavior and the Jewish nation, because the starry coronation—the triple conjunction—occurred within the constellation of Leo, The Lion.  Ancient stargazers, particularly if they were interested in things Jewish, may well have concluded they were seeing signs of a Jewish king.  But there is more.  As Jupiter was beginning the coronation of Regulus, another startling symbol rose in the sky. The constellation which rises in the east behind Leo is Virgo, The Virgin.  When Jupiter and Regulus were first meeting, she rose clothed in the Sun.  And as John said, the moon was at her feet.  It was a new moon, symbolically birthed at the feet of The Virgin.  The sheer concentration of symbolism in the stars at this moment is remarkable.  These things could certainly lead our magus to conclude that a Jewish king had been born.  But even this is not the whole story.  These symbols could indicate a birth, but if they were interpreted to indicate the time of conception, the beginning of a human life, might there be something interesting in the sky nine months later?  Indeed.  In June of 2 BC, Jupiter continued the pageantry.  Jupiter glides slowly past Regulus about every 12 years.  Let’s assume our magus enjoyed a 50-year career (say from age 20 to age 70).  We don’t know how old the Magi were, but if our man was in the second half of his career, he might have seen such a pass two or three times before. Jupiter’s orbit wobbles relative to Regulus, so not every conjunction is as close as the one he saw in 3 BC.  Perhaps our magus recorded this event with some interest, but it is hard to imagine great excitement.  Not from this alone.  But, of course, there is more.  The planets move against the field of fixed stars.  From Earth, they appear to be "active."  For example, if were you to watch Jupiter each night for several weeks, you would see that it moves eastward through the starry field.  Each night Jupiter rises in the east (satisfying a second Star qualification).  Each night it appears to be slightly farther east in the field of fixed stars.  All of the planets move like this.  But the wandering stars exhibit another, stranger motion.  Periodically, they appear to reverse course and move backward through the other stars.  This may seem odd, but the reason is simple enough: we watch the planets from a moving platform—Earth—hurtling around the Sun in its own orbit.  When you pass a car on the freeway, it appears to go backward as it drops behind.  For similar reasons, when the Earth in its orbit swings past another planet, that planet appears to move backward against the starry field. Astronomers call this optical effect retrograde motion.  In 3 or 2 BC, Jupiter’s retrograde wandering would have called for our magus’ full attention. After Jupiter and Regulus had their kingly encounter, Jupiter continued on its path through the star field. But then it entered retrograde.  It "changed its mind" and headed back to Regulus for a second conjunction.  After this second pass it reversed course again for yet a third rendezvous with Regulus, a triple conjunction.  A triple pass like this is more rare.  Over a period of months, our watching magus would have seen the Planet of Kings dance out a halo above the Star of Kings.  A coronation.  The Planet of Kings traveled on through the star field toward another spectacular rendezvous, this time with Venus, the Mother Planet.  No one alive had ever seen such a conjunction.  If the Magi only began their travel plans in August or September, when they saw this sight four months later, someone may have shouted: "What are we waiting for?  Mount up!"  At the end of their travel, which took months, these experts arrived in Jerusalem.  To qualify as the Star, Jupiter would have to have been ahead of the Magi as they trekked South from Jerusalem to Bethlehem.  Sure enough, in December of 1 B.C. if the Magi looked south in the wee hours, there hung the Planet of Kings over the City of David (i.e. city of Messiah’s birth.)  

And second, who was King Herod the Great?  King Herod the Great was a Roman client king of Judea.  He was the son of Antipater I (the first), the Idumaean, who was the founder of the Herodian Dynasty (poisoned and killed by one of Hyrcanus’ cup-bearers in 43 B.C.) and Cyprus, the daughter of an Arabian sheik.  Herod was a successful ruler and was on terms of friendship with Caesar Augustus, the Roman Emperor.  His epithet of "the Great" is widely disputed as he is described as "a madman who murdered his own family and a great many rabbis."  He, however, wasn't all bad.  He was a brilliant architect.  He is known for his colossal building projects in Jerusalem and elsewhere, including his expansion of the Second Temple in Jerusalem (sometimes referred to as Herod's Temple, a.k.a.: his greatest achievement) and the construction of the port at Caesarea Maritima, the fortress at Masada, and Herodium.  On the other side of the coin, King Herod was possibly Bipolar, due to his "highs and lows" mood-wise.  He, in a jealous rage and reasons of betrayal, murdered his wife: Mariamne and two of his sons: Alexander and Aristobulus.  He had enforced an uneasy peace with his family and subjects during his rule over Judea partially due to this.  In the same year as the Massacre of the Innocence at Bethlehem, he had Antipater, another of his own sons, put to death.  Unknowingly to Herod Antipas, Herod the Great did not favor him.  However, when his kingdom was divided, Herod Antipas became tetrarch of Galilee and Peraea.  Herod the Great's death was, without a doubt, agonizing.  Herod's final illness – sometimes named as: "Herod's Evil" – was excruciating.  Some medical experts propose that Herod had chronic kidney disease complicated by Fournier's Gangrene (a cancer-like fasciitis, necrosis, or flesh-eating disease affecting the perineum).   He suffered throughout his lifetime from depression and paranoia.  The visible worms and putrefaction described in his final days are likely to have been scabies; the disease might have accounted for both his death and psychiatric symptoms.  It is believed that Herod died, at age 69 after a 37 year reign, in March or early April of a year or two after Jesus was born (assuming the December 25 birth). 

 

The Gospel of Matthew describes how the Magi from the east were notified of the birth of a king in Judaea by the appearance of his star.  Meanwhile, Caesar Augustus (The Roman Emperor at the time of Jesus' birth) issued a cencus of the population and their property that was used for assessing taxes.  King Herod attempted to use this to his advantage, for he knew that the Messiah would come out of Bethlehem and the census would bring him there.  Upon the arrival of the Magi in Jerusalem, they visited King Herod to determine the location of where the king of the Jews had been born.  Herod, disturbed and troubled by the situation, told them that he had not heard of the child, but informed them of a prophecy that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (

Micah 5:2

).  He then asked them to inform him when they find the infant so that Herod may also worship him.  Guided by the Star of Bethlehem (

a.k.a. the Star of David

), the wise men found the baby Jesus in a stable, worshiped him, and presented him with "

gifts of gold and of frankincense and of myrrh

." -- 

Matthew 2.11.

  In a dream they are warned not to return to Herod, and therefore return to their homes by taking another route.  "

When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi" --

Matthew 2:16, therefore, what was said in , "Jeremiah 31:15, was fulfilled.  This particular evening went down in history known as the Massacre of the Innocents

.  Since Bethlehem was a small village, the number of male children under the age of two may not have exceeded 20.   However, Herod's order in Matthew 2:16: includes those children in Bethlehem's vicinity making the massacre larger umerically and geographically.  The infants, known in the Church as the 

Holy Innocents

there have been claimed as the first Christian martyrs, so to speak.  

December 28

 is the date of Holy Innocents' Day, also called Childermas or Children's Mass in he Church of England, the Lutheran Church  and the Roman Catholic Church.  

Isn't the difference between the Magi and King Herod mind-boggling?  On one hand, we have a king who has ruled over Judea for (at this point, maybe) 35 years.  He was on friendly terms with Caesar Augustus (The Roman Emperor) and had a gift of architecture.  And yet, his paranoia consumed him so much, he was willing to slaughter a prophetic child in fear of losing his kingdom.  In fact, (due to being so harsh and nasty to his family and subjects) Herod was so concerned that no one would mourn his death, that he commanded a large group of distinguished men to come to Jericho, and actually gave an order that they should be killed at the time of his death so that the displays of grief that he craved would take place.  Fortunately, for these guys, Herod's sons Archilaus and Antipas, and sister Salome did not carry out this wish.  And then, we have the Magi.  They were Kings, and thus, were rich.  They came from a pagan culture, and yet believed in the coming of the Messiah.  They left the comfort of their own kingdom to journey to Judea, not knowing the of dangers they would find.  The distance from Persia (presently Iran) to Bethlehem is approximately 1,000 miles.  While riding on camels, it took them four months to journey there.  And although they used a star to guild them, they journeyed to Judea strictly on faith.  And it was that faith (not necessarily the star) that led them to the baby Messiah they were able to worship.  Except for the fact that they took a different route to return to Persia, there is nothing known about what happened to them thereafter.  Most likely, they lived out the rest of there days as kings, studying the stars, and simply went about their lives, with a joy in their hearts that the Messiah came within their own lifetime.  As mentioned, they were the very first Gentiles to worship Jesus.  And they definitely were not to be the last.  

Melchior, Caspar, & Balthasar... The Magi! (Image from "The Nativity Story" (2006)

Where did prayers Go?

 "Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers and our Country."  Does anybody recognize this prayer?  If you're roughly around the age of 58 or older, you may recognize it very well.  This 22-word prayer is what would go down in history as the "Regent's Prayer."  My parents remember saying either that or The Lord's Prayer before the Pledge of Allegiance to start out their school day.  They were among many generations who said these prayers in the classroom.  And they were, unfortunately, among the last.  The New York education system adopted The Regent's Prayer to be said before the start of each day's classes.  This prayer was thoroughly believed to promote good moral character, provide spiritual training, and help combat juvenile delinquency.  And contrary to popular belief, the prayer was not forced on ANY student.  In fact, students who did not wish to say the prayer could choose to remain silent or stand outside the classroom, and face no penalty.  As a young boy at around second grade, I remember attending a class entitled: "Religious Education" taught by a lady by the name of Marie Cowell.  If you lived in Sidney, Ohio and went to one of the elementary schools some time in the second part of the 20th century, you would remember who Mrs. Cowell was very well.  I know I never forgot her.  She's the reason I begin every prayer with: "Dear, Lord, my Heavenly Father..."  I got to have the pleasure of telling her that roughly 20 years after I had her as a teacher, while we were both mentoring for the third-graders at Central Elementary School.  By then, she had retired after over 40 years of teaching Religious Education.  She taught two generations of my family.  My father also was taught by her when HE was in elementary school in the late 1950's.  There was, however, one difference between when he had her and when I had her.  You see, when my father had her, she walked into the elementary schools, say prayers, and teacher about the Holy Bible.  By the time I had her, she was teaching in a mobile classroom so that she could be parked outside of whatever elementary school she was assigned to teach that day.  I and the rest of my classmates would have to leave the school building, walk through the school yard, and to the parking lot where the mobile classroom was.  And that's where we were taught about God; in a small mobile classroom, with two rows of seats, seating two students at a time.  Until I went to college, that is the only place and the only time I was ever taught about God and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Between the background my parents had by being raised in The Church and Mrs. Cowell, that was all I knew about our Lord and Savior.  Why?  Because over a half a century ago, through the acts of one atheist, prayer in public schools has been as prohibited just as Prohibition in the United States was in the 1920's.  They only difference is: the Eighteenth Amendment (which took effect on January 17, 1920) was repealed by the Twenty-first Amendment on December 5, 1933.  The manufacturing, transportation, and selling of alcohol for common consumption within a decade and a half became LEGAL again.  The Supreme Court's decision to take prayer out of public school was NEVER overturned.  So, I guess TWO questions arise.  Who was this atheist that changed the course of our public school's history and what consequences and repercussion have come about from it?  In other words, how would we "put prayer back INTO schools, without doing any harm?"  Well, let's first look at the facts.  Who was the person that took prayer out of public schools?  The woman was an atheist by the name of: Madalyn Murray O'Hair.  But who was she?  What was her past?  What was it that drove her to take prayer out of public schools?

Originally named: Madalyn Evalyn Mays, she was born in the Beechview neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in Allegheny County, on April 13, 1919 (which happen to fall on Palm Sunday that year) (SSN: 302-10-6661), to John Irwin "Irv" Mays  (born: 1893) and Lena Christina Scholle-Mays (born: 1892).  It was also the same day as the Jallianwala Bagh massacre (a.k.a.: the Amritsar massacre) and the establishment of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea.  Lena Scholle was one of ten children, forced to work as a maid during her teen years to earn money for her family.  John Mays was the ninth of thirteen children, also from a lower-middle class home.  Due to poor circumstances at home, John ran away at age twelve.  Due to a lack of room, Lena was forced to leave home in her late teens.  The two met one night in 1912 and were married the next day.  Madalyn’s mother, a Lutheran, became a Presbyterian upon her marriage to Mr Mays.  Madalyn had a brother named: John Irwin "Irv" Mays, Jr., who was 2½ years older than she was (born: November 20, 1916).  While pregnant for Madayn, her seamstress mother: Lena threw herself out of the second story window of their home in an attempt to abort the pregnancy to no avail.  Lena swore that Madalyn was born with an unusual dark membrane, covering her whole body, resembling a black shroud.  The doctor said it was unusual, but offered no explanation.  He gave a portion of the membrane to Lena, who kept the odd keepsake for many years.  In 1923, she was baptized into the church as a Presbyterian.  She and her brother attended church and Sunday School regularly for years.  They grew up in an upper-middle class family with her father running a small but lucrative construction firm.  However, due to the Stock Market Crash of 1929, her father's firm went bankrupt, the family lost most of their wealth, and her father was forced to become an itinerant worker.  He was never prosperous again.  As a preteen during the Great Depression, while living in Akron, Ohio, Madalyn began reading voraciously and was accustomed to regular weekend trips to the library.  One weekend when she was in fifth or sixth grade, her father didn't take her to the library.  Madalyn, stuck at home with no new books, read the Holy Bible cover to cover and then began asking her parents about what she had read.  She found the stories cruel and inhumane.  She said that her mother answered by saying: "Oh, that's not in my Bible!"  Also, while attending church, she took note that the minister "accused his flock of being full of sin," though he never explained why.  And, so were sown the seeds of her unbelief.  During her teen years, the family lived with Lena’s brother in Rossford, Ohio, where Mr. Mays worked for Libbey-Owens-Ford, a gas manufacturer.  It was at her maternal uncle's where she began reading about Government Paternalism and started thinking about the way American Government worked.  She lived across the street from the local drug store where she spent hours with her friends at the soda fountain.  During her sophomore year, she began attending Rossford High School, an academically rigorous school with underlying religious ideals.  Her friends recall that she had high ambitions for herself (always daydreaming about her "big plans" for the future) and was highly intelligent.  In 1937, she graduated from Rossford High School.  Thereafter, Madalyn took up a National Youth Administration Scholarship to attend the University of Toledo.  She planned to go on to study medicine.  She attended the University of Toledo only briefly before transferring to the University of Pittsburgh.  Soon after taking up studies at the University of Pittsburgh, she met her first husband, a steelworker: John Henry Roths.  After a brief whirlwind courtship, they eloped on October 9, 1941.  The bombing of Pearl Harbor and the Second World War soon interrupted their marriage.  Her husband enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. and was sent to the Pacific.  Madalyn enlisted in the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WACs).  By 1943, her high IQ and being a workaholic led her to being commissioned as a Second Lieutenant and six Battle Stars serving with the cryptographic staff for the Signal Corps. at the Supreme Allied Headquarters in North Africa, France, and Italy.  She was able to get high security clearances.  During her stay in the Army, she traveled to several different countries.  Then, in April of 1945, while posted in Italy, she began an extramarital affair with an Eighth Army Corps Officer B-24 Pilot, Captain William J. Murray, Jr. (April 23, 1923 - July 25, 2012) (son of the Postmaster of at Rockville Center, Long Island in Nassau County).  Less than six months into the affair, she found out she was pregnant by Murray.  Mays was in love with Murray and wanted to marry him (even though they were both already married), but Murray was a wealthy married Roman Catholic, and he refused to divorce his wife.  Mays was discharged from the WAC due to her pregnancy.  In fact, in September of 1953, she volunteered for Extended Duty in the Officer's Reserve Corps, but was turned down when the Army required that she arrange to have her mother (Lena) formally adopt Bill, and she refused.  During her pregnancy, she returned to the United States to face her parents and her husband.  Roths was willing to adopt and raise the child as his own, but Madalyn still insisted on a divorce.  Madalyn divorced Roths (who died December 9, 1997) and began calling herself: Madalyn Murray.  It was during her pregnancy in the early spring of 1946 that she strode outside in a violent Midwestern  electrical thunderstorm, alone, and challenged God to strike her and her unborn child dead, unleashing blasphemies intended to provoke God's wrath.  She cursed Him violently so that He would have no choice but to strike her down.  God will not be mocked or challenged, however, and on May 25, 1946, gave birth to a baby boy she named: William Joseph Murray, III; nicknamed "Bill" at Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (overwhelmed with maternal joy).  Soon after, she baptized Bill in a Presbyterian church.  Although William, Jr. denied paternity of the child, Madalyn sued him for child support and won.  He was legally required to pay Madayln $15 a month, until Bill was eighteen.  Bill only met is biological father once in his life (his 8th birthday party).  In 1948, Murray completed a B.A. from Ashland University (on a GI Bill), a mid-sized, private, non-profit university that is affiliated with the Church of the Brethren and located in Ashland, Ohio.  She, then, studied history at Western Reserve University and a year of law at Ohio Northern University before she led her son, her brother (Irv, Jr.), and her parents to Houston, Texas.  In 1952, she received an LL.B. degree from the (as then) unaccredited South Texas College of Law, which was later automatically converted to a Juris Doctor (JD) when the terminology changed in 1965; however, she failed the State Bar Exam and never practiced law.  She was dabbling in Communism, Marxism, and Socialism by this time.  That same year, Madalyn moved with her parents to Baltimore and got a job in the Engineering Department at Glenn L Martin Aircraft, a large manufacturer of bombers and transport planes.  By March of 1954, she had been promoted to architectural engineer.  Shortly before that time, she met and had an affair with a fellow employee, an Italian New York City native named: Michael Fiorillo (March 10, 1922 - June 18, 2002), who was able to help her with some of the math in her job.  Coincidentally, he was also a Roman Catholic.  On November 16, 1954, she gave birth to her second son: Jon Garth Murray (who she baptized in a Methodist Church).  She picked the name "Jon" to honor her father (who she resented), but not honor him enough to spell it properly (i.e. the same as her father).  The name "Garth" was a whimsy, and the name "Murray" was to spare her child of the stigma of a different surname.  After getting pregnant, Murray was forced to quit her job in July 1954, and endured many heated arguments with her father about her "immoral" actions.  He did not agree with her life decisions and was not afraid to voice his opinion.  He would call her "the town slut" for having two children out of wedlock.  In 1956, Murray joined the Socialist Labor Party (SLP).  After being expelled from Howard University in February of 1959, she and her sons traveled by ship to Europe, planning on defecting to the Soviet embassy in Paris and residing in the Soviet Union, due to that nation's promotion of state atheism.  However, the USSR denied them entry due to her falsifying information in an attempt to gaining citizenship.  Murray and her sons returned to Baltimore in 1960.  That same year, she joined the Baltimore Chapter of the The Fair Play for Cuba Committee.  Then, one morning, when she dropped Bill off at Woodbourne Junior High School, she heard students reciting The Lord's Prayer before their morning classes.  This was a defining moment for Madalyn because she had finally found her cause: Promote Atheism in America.  On December 7, 1960, Murray filed a lawsuit against the Baltimore City Public School System, in which she asserted that it was unconstitutional for her 14-year-old son: William to be required to participate in daily group prayers and Bible readings at Baltimore Public Schools.  In this litigation, she stated that her son's refusal to partake in the Bible readings had resulted in bullying being directed against him by classmates, and that administrators condoned it.  Her case, Murray vs. Curlett, was tried in the Superior Court of Baltimore where it was dismissed.  The case had already gained national attention by the time she appealed and took the case to Supreme Court.  It was joined with a similar case, Abington School District vs. Schempp.  On January 9, 1963, her father (at the age of 69) died of a heart attack at the A&P Supermarket, after a heated quarrel they had that morning.  On June 17 1963, the court ruled 8 to 1, with Justice Potter Stewart dissenting, that required Bible readings and recitations were unconstitutional in public schools.  We would later learn that in truth, her role was not essential to the court's ruling.  The Supreme Court actually made its groundbreaking decision on another case, Abington Township vs. Schempp, and merely attached Murray's suit to that one.  Had Murray suit never been filed, school-sponsored prayer would be considered just as unconstitutional as it is today.  Still, Murray took the credit and did it gladly.  By 1964, Life magazine reported that O'Hair was "the most hated woman in America."  She loved it!  Murray allegedly assaulted five Baltimore police officers who came to her home to retrieve a runaway girl (Susan Abramovitz) on June 20, 1964.  Murray later claimed she and her mother had been beaten by "God-fearing" police.  Thereafter, the family fled Maryland and went to Hawaii, where they took refuge in a Unitarian Church in Honolulu.  Then, they went to Mexico City.  They were deported from there to Houston, Texas on September 25, 1965.  The charges were dropped on October 6 and the family settled down in Austin, Texas.  After gaining media attention from her court case, Madalyn Murray was called upon to help with other causes that would further separate church and state.  She tried to get "In God We Trust" removed from American money.  She tried to stop public bodies from having prayers before meetings, and to stop courts from swearing witnesses and jurors with: "So help me God."  But she LOST those cases.  On October 18, 1965, she married ex-FBI informer and retired U.S. First Division Marine: Richard Franklin O'Hair, and amended her name to Madalyn Murray-O'Hair.  There were no children as a result of this marriage due to a hysterectomy Madalyn underwent in 1961.  However, Richard had two sons from previous marriages (to Mary Atten-O'Hair on September 10, 1933; & Josephine Gaskill-O'Hair on January 5, 1940) named: Richard Gregg O'Hair & Theodore Cleason O'Hair.  Although the marriage was tumultuous and resulted in separation, Madalyn remained married to him until his death due to colon cancer on March 12, 1978 (at the age of 64).  After his death, Madalyn took over the Society of Separationists.  The organization’s philosophy was based on free thought, and atheist ideals.  In later writings for American Atheists, Madalyn would call herself: "Dr. O'Hair" on the basis of her Juris Doctor and a Ph.D. in Divinity, which came from a diploma mill called: The Minnesota Institute of Philosophy, a mail order school that was operated by an atheist.  It wasn't long before Madalyn was living the life of comfort that she always wanted.  People from across America were sending her cash donations for the atheist cause.  The O'Hair family life, however, caused Bill anguish.  He watched his mother grab a ten-inch knife and starting toward his grandfather (Madalyn's father) before "Irv" disarmed her.  That incident allegedly occurred after Madalyn had thrown a number of plates at "Irv."  Although she enjoyed a good relationship with her mother, she no longer got along with her father who disapproved of her values.  Bill remembers that his half-brother: Jon Garth was only touched when picked up to be fed and to get attention, he would hit his head against the bars of his crib.  Madalyn's mother died in April of 1967 (at the age of 74).  Her brother "Irv, Jr." also had an increasing dislike for her and severed all ties with her (who died in late December 1987).  Bill suffered with Stockholm Syndrome for a time.  When he was only nine, he was forced by his mother to distribute Socialist tracts at a shopping center.  At seventeen, Bill ran afoul of the law.  Bill says virginity had no meaning to him since he had not been given any foundation of morality at home.  As a result, he went farther than just kissing Jennifer, his first serious girlfriend.  Jennifer introduced Bill to Susan Abramovitz with whom he immediately had sex.  He eloped with Susan (born 1947 who was from a Jewish family; a shy, slender, bespectacled auburn-haired girl), despite an injunction won by her parents that prohibited him from seeing her in Fredenick, Maryland on June 3, 1964.  When they returned to Baltimore on June 20, Bill was arrested because Susan was under the legal age for marriage.  Bill said that night, he was beaten in jail by two police officers; one beating him and the other reading Bible verses aloud.  This was partly the reason the family fled to Honolulu.  Naturally, Susan's religion did not sit well with Madalyn and marital discord soon ensued.  The discord escalated to domestic abuse.  By the time Madalyn's only grandchild: Robin Ilene Murray was born on February 16, 1965 at Kapiolani Maternity Hospital in Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii, Bill and Susan's marriage was more or less over.  Susan left Bill and, against her will, left their toddler daughter 2½ years after they married.  Although Susan wanted keep Robin, sadly, Susan was unable to afford to take the child with her.  Bill became a drug addict and a heavy alcoholic.  When Robin was over a year old, he left Robin with Madalyn.  Bill was broke, divorced, with no prospects; his ex-wife: Susan didn't want the child, and he felt he had no choice.  All through his 20's, Bill meandered from one job to another and used people for his own gratification, primarily through sleeping around and getting women pregnant.  He also stole, faked and automobile accident in order to bilk an insurance company, dabbled in the occult, sold drugs, took bribes, and deserted the Army.  In 1969, Bill asked Madalyn for his daughter, whom she had kept while he was in the Army.  She refused, they fought a custody suit, and Madalyn won.  In fact, Richard and Madalyn adopted Robin as their own daughter in 1973, which gave her the name: Robin Murray-O'Hair.  When Jon Garth was twelve, he pleaded with Bill to take them both away from Madalyn.  Bill knew the situation was bad with heavy fighting, alcoholism and abuse rampant in his mother’s home, but his own interests were more important to him at the time.  For years, Bill wandered in and out of Madalyn's orbit, until the late '70's.  He later married Valerie Leilani Guillerno (an airline ticket agent, born 1956) in Travis County Texas on January 15, 1977 and had another daughter named: Jade Amber Murray (a green-eyed beauty who would have Bill's blonde hair) on October 11, 1977.  That autumn, Robin was attending Fenster School, a college prep boarding school on East Ocotillo Drive in Tucson, Arizona (where Bill and Valerie were living that year).  Valerie and Jade, for a short time, brought Robin and Bill together.  Robin (12 years old at the time) adored Jade.  She would take secret weekend visits to them, without telling Madalyn (because Madalyn and Bill were on the outs once again and she did not know where he was living).  On Saturdays, they'd all play miniature golf, go to swap meets, hang out at the mall and have ice cream, and dinner-and-a-movie.  However, it did not take long for Madalyn to find out, and when given an ultimatum before Christmas of 1977, the ambivalent adolescent picked her grandmother (and it stayed that way).  Shortly after that, she was transferred to another boarding school.  Bill quarreled with Valerie one night in July of 1979, struck her, and when the police came, he fired a rifle shot through the front door.  He was charged with Attempted Capital Murder of a police officer.  He was sentenced to five years probation for Aggravated Assault (he claimed the gun went off by accident).  That year, Bill entered a rehab program and was exposed to evangelical Christianity.  During his period of spiritual questioning, he had a powerful dream one night.  He said he saw a winged angel with a sword in his hand.  Inscribed on the sword was the words: "In Hoc Signo Vince," which means "In This Sign Conquer."  This changed the course of Bill's life forever.  Bill, then, became a Christian on January 25, 1980; first sharing the news with ex-wife: Valerie (age 24; age Jade 2½).  In fact, he announced his conversion to Christianity to the rest of his family on Mother's Day of that year.  Madalyn disowned him immediately.  Learning of his conversion to Christianity, Madayln 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."  Bill was baptized at Gateway Baptist Church in Dallas, went on to become a Baptist minister, and had become the chairman of the Religious Freedom Coalition.  In an interesting twist of irony, this coalition's ultimate goal was to restore prayer in schools.  He also runs a Texas ministry called the William Murray Faith Foundation, one which favors "pro-life, pro-family, anti-violence, anti-pornography, and creation science."  In addition, he leads a group called: Citizens to Restore Voluntary School Prayer.  The marriage to Valerie ended in divorce on October 12, 1982.  When Robin was fifteen, Bill tried to reestablish a relationship with her, but it was too late.  She wanted nothing to do with him.  Following Madalyn's arrival in Austin, she founded American Atheists and established the American Atheist Press.  She acted as the group's first Chief Executive Officer.  O'Hair remained a polarizing figure into the 1970's and 1980's.  But Ronald Reagan's reelection to the White House signaled a cultural shift to a more conservative America that again embraced tradition and Christianity.  Her support began to dwindle.  By the 1990's, American Atheists amounted to O'Hair, Jon Garth, Robin , and only a handful of support personnel.  When Robin was an infant, Madalyn nicknamed her: "my little Red Robin," due to her red hair.  Very precocious as a child, she had only one friend when she attended Fenster School: Derek Keller, from Lamar, Texas.  She graduated at the age of sixteen from the prestigious: Thomas Jefferson Prep School, a small international coeducational boarding and day school located on South Lindbergh Boulevard in suburban (Sunset Hills) Saint Louis, Missouri.  Armed with a full National Merit Scholarship, she immediately enrolled in the Honors Program at the University of Texas in Austin, graduating with her B.A., after only three years of study, on May 19, 1984 when she was nineteen years old.  Robin had a brilliant mind, which she most likely inherited from her mother: Susan, not to mention Madalyn.  After graduation, Robin was best known for her stewardship of the American Atheist Press, of which she was editor-in-chief and managed the Charles E. Stevens American Atheist Library and Archives.  In addition to her love for animals, she had a sensitive side and wrote poetry.  In fact, American Atheist Press published: "Tweetings of a Loose Robin; and, The End of an Era" in 1981, describing the complexity of traditional relationships for lovers who possess an atheist morality.  Robin was quite eloquent on the subject of atheism.  Surprisingly, she felt that the School-Prayer Amendment  her father, Bill, was backing had "a good chance."  Outside the office, she was a gourmet cook, loved gardening, and playing the viola when her busy schedule permitted it.  But she wasn't always sensitive.  She learned how to treat people from Madalyn.  Although Robin was more pleasant in general than Jon Garth, she was seldom happy and she, too, tended to belittle the American Atheists staff, just like O’Hair.  On December 15, 1987, Robin was imprisoned for contempt of court in the Travis County Jail for three days for refusing to take a the required Pre-Voir Dire Oath: "So help me God," a prelude to a form of questioning designed to establish qualifications of prospective jurors.  Released after posting bond, Robin sued under section 1983, alleging violation of the Free Exercise Clause, and sought damages and declaratory relief.  As a result of her jailing, she received the "Atheist of the Year" award for 1987.  She once even once denounced Agnostics as people who were too cowardly to declare themselves as atheists.  William says that years later (after professing his conversion), he wrote Robin and tried to apologize for giving her up.  He still (to this day) does not know if she ever got the letter.  When e-mail became more accessible and he found Robin's address, he wrote a long explanation to her of "how she got there" and how "he wished that wouldn't have happened."  Again, there was no response.  Then one day, her e-mail address was no longer active.  He never did hear a word from her.  By the time Madalyn was in her early 70's, she was suffering from diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, morbid obesity, and vertigo.  Jon Murray succeeded Madalyn as leader of the American Atheists in April of 1986; he was not liked by many in the organization, and various chapters seceded from the main group.  In 1991, the remaining local/state chapters were dissolved.  By the mid-1990's, it seemed that the glory days were over.  Still, the trio lived together in the same huge house on Greystone Drive in northwest Austin.  The threesome made up for their loneliness with extravagance.  Jon and Madalyn each drove a Mercedes, and Robin drove a Porsche.  There was always a cabinet full of booze, a refrigerator full of foods high in fat and sugar, and a freezer full of ice cream.  O'Hair used food to control Robin and make her unattractive to men.  By the time she was thirty, she was so heavy, she had to purchase two airline tickets because she could not fit in one seat.  Robin, sensitive, shy and heading into spinsterhood; doubtless wanted a lot of things that she would never achieve as long as she lived in the shadow of her formidable grandmother.  Neither Jon nor Robin ever married.  In fact, they never really even had the opportunity to have a serious relationship with a anyone because of the control O'Hair possessed over them.  None of them really had any friends.  Toward the end of their lives, all they really had was each other.  They trusted no one else, except maybe their dogs.  The trio went to the office together, took vacations together, and returned home together.  And soon, American Atheists was in crisis.  The IRS sued Jon and Robin for $1.5 million in back taxes.  Pleas for money were not going as well as they used to, and in 1993, the radio show was dropped; that was also the last year for American Atheist’s Annual Convention.  More than ever before, Madalyn, Jon, and Robin were alone together.  In early August 1995, they went on a vacation to Virginia.  They returned to Austin and bought plane tickets for a September picket of the Pope in New York.  They never made it there...  On August 27, 1995, the O'Hairs suddenly disappeared.  When David Travis, a former Army sergeant and proofreader for American Atheists, reported for work the next day, the door to the office of American Atheists was locked with a typewritten note attached (apparently with Jon's signature), stating: "The Murray-O'Hair family has been called out of town on an emergency basis.  We do not know how long we will be gone at the time of the writing of this memo."  When it became clear that this was no overnight expedition, an American Atheist employee checked the O'Hairs' home.  He says he found Madalyn’s blood pressure medication on the kitchen counter, breakfast dishes were sitting on the table; Madalyn's insulin lay unused in the refrigerator, and 3 dogs had been left behind without a caregiver.  On August 29, the Griffith Small Animal Hospital, which had boarded the family’s dogs (three cocker spaniels: Gannon, Shannon, and Gallagher, at the time) many times, got a call from Robin, who was crying.  She told the receptionist that the O’Hairs had to leave town on a family emergency, but she didn't have time to drop off the dogs.  The hospital agreed to come pick them up.  Robin never returned for them...  Board members finally made contact with Jon Garth on his cell phone, but he refused to provide details.  Robin got on the phone to convey her worries about the dogs, but assured the board everything was fine.  In phone calls a few days later, the trio claimed that they were on "business" in San Antonio.  A few days after that, Jon ordered $600,000 worth of gold coins from a San Antonio jeweler but took delivery of only $500,000 worth of coins.  On September 8, Jon's Mercedes was sold to a San Antonio couple who say the seller was not the bearded Jon but a mysterious, clean-shaven man who insisted on meeting in parking lots and dark taverns,offering the car at $ 5,000 below book value.  Until September 27, American Atheists employees received several phone calls from Robin and Jon, but neither would explain why they left or when they would return; while they said nothing was amiss, their voices sounded strained and disturbed.  The O'Hair’s last call to their headquarters came in at 12:24 pm, a seven minute-long phone on September 28, 1995.  The most hated woman in America had become just another celebrity has-been.  On September 24, 1996, Bill filed a missing persons report with the Austin Police Department.  Police began an investigation.  In October of 1996, Robin's 1985 Porsche 944 is found abandoned at the Austin Airport.  In July of 1998, the house at 3702 Greystone Drive the trio shared was sold for $240,000 to satisfy creditors.  At this time, the property has an estimated value of $601,000 (last sold in late 2006).  In September of that same year, the American Atheist leaders agree to sell their 17,500-square-foot building on Cameron Road to AIDS Services of Austin for $800,000.  Ultimately, a murder investigation focused on a disgruntled former employee with a long criminal record named: David Roland Waters, who had worked as a typesetter for American Atheists.  On March 24, 1999, Waters was arrested on weapons charges, under suspicion for being involved in the disappearance.  The police concluded that Waters and his accomplices had kidnapped the trio, forced them to withdraw the missing funds, gone on several huge shopping sprees with their money and credit cards, then murdered them and dismembered the bodies.  On January 28, 2001, Waters informed the police that the O'Hairs were buried on a ranch in Camp Wood, Texas, and he subsequently led them to the bodies.  When the police excavated there, they discovered that the O'Hairs' bodies had been cut into dozens of pieces.  On March 15, 2001, the identity of the grisly remains were confirmed.  The remains exhibited such extensive mutilation and successive decomposition that identification had to be made through dental records, by DNA testing and, in Madalyn case, by the serial number of her prosthetic hip.  Walters and is accomplices were all sentenced to prison for embezzlement, Waters' sentenced totaling 60 years.  Waters was never tried for the murders of the Murray-O'Hair family, but was given an additional 28 years in prison after the discovery of the remains.  On the morning of March 23, 2001, a small group of witnesses (mostly law enforcement officers) gathered at a small cemetery.  In a sarcophagus are three cardboard boxes with the trio's remains (Madalyn at the head, Jon Garth in the middle, and Robin at the foot).  In keeping her wishes, no one prayed over the O'Hair's remains and are buried in an unmarked grave known only to Bill.  Waters died of lung cancer in prison at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina, on January 27, 2003.  Madalyn's Grave Memorial# 10006.  Jon Garth's Grave Memorial# 7177589.  Robin's Grave Memorial# 7177605.  

Now, did these three people have a right to be Atheists?  Sure!  Everybody has the right to be whatever religion they want to be.  That's in the First Amendment.  The Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 7:15: "But if the unbeliever leaves, let it be so. The brother or the sister is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace."  Did they have the right to voice their opinions?  Of course!  That is also in the First Amendment.  Even though there are people who spread messages that are not of the Gospel, they do have a right to express themselves, just like Christians do.  The Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:4 that: "The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."  Did these three people need God?  Yes!  EVERYBODY needs God in their lives.  They needed God just as much as the next person.  Did God love them?  Absolutely!  The fact that they didn't believe that God exists doesn't change whether He loved them.   Remember, John 3:16 says: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son..."  The world includes EVERYBODY.  So, whether they were Believers or not, God saw them as His.  And until they took their last breaths, they had every opportunity to repent of their sin and accept the Lord Jesus Christ, just like everybody else.  The Apostle Paul said in Romans 10:13 that: "for, 'Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'"  God loves EVERYBODY and gives EVERYBODY a change at salvation through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, no matter how early or late in the game.  Did they deserve to be murdered?  Absolutely not!  All three of the lives that were taken were just as much God's creation as any plant, animal, or human life.  Nobody DESERVES to be murdered.  Where are their souls now?  Well, many people would say: "Hell, of course."  And I understand the assumptions.  But only they and God know their true eternal destiny.  

Now, did the Holy Bible predict this?  Absolutely!  When Jesus was describing the Last Days, He said: "At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other,"  The Apostle Paul said in 1 Timothy 4:1 that: "The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons."  The Apostle Peter said in 2 Peter 3:3 that: "Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires."  Jude 1:17-19 says: "But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold.  They said to you, 'In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.'  These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit."  Now, at this point, some you may be thinking: "Okay, Ron.  Look, you can quote from that Bible all you want, but not everybody buys it.  So, for the sake of even the non-believers, could you talk about this in a secular sense?"  My answer?  Of course!  I know our United States Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and other important American documents just as well as the Holy Bible.  You want me to give you "one good reason" why we should have prayer in public schools (or, at least, why we never should have taken it out)?  I can give you ten.

1) Our government was based on religious principles from the very beginning. The Declaration of Independence says (1776):

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by God with certain unalienable rights..."

Indeed, it speaks of God, creations, God-given moral rights, the providence of God, and a final Day of Judgment - all of which are religious teachings.  Indeed, the Supreme Court affirmed (Zorach, 1952) that: "We are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being."  And school prayer has been an important part of our religious experience from the very beginning.

 

2) The First Amendment does not separate God and government but actually encourages religion. It reads:

"Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, nor prohibiting the free exercise thereof."

The first clause merely declares that the federal government cannot establish one religion for all the people.  It says nothing about "separation of church and state."  In fact, five of the 13 states that ratified it had their own state religions at the time.  The second clause insists that the government should do nothing to discourage religion.  But forbidding prayer in schools discourages religion.

 

3) Early congressional actions encouraged religion in public schools.  For example, the Northwest Treaty (1787 and 1789) declared:

"Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary for good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of learning shall forever be encouraged."

Thus, religion, which includes prayer, was deemed to be necessary.

 

4) Early presidents, with congressional approval, made proclamations encouraging public prayer.  President Washington on October 3, 1789, declared:

"Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me 'to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer...'"

5) Congress has prayed at the opening of every session since the very beginning.  Indeed, in a moment of crisis at the very first Continental Congress, Benjamin Franklin urged prayer and observed:

"In the beginning of the Contest with Great Britain, when we were sensible to danger, we had daily prayer in this room for Divine protection. - Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered... And have we now forgotten that powerful Friend? or do we imagine we no longer need His assistance? ...I therefore beg leave to move - that henceforth prayer imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessing on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the clergy of this city be requested to officiate in that service."

Congress has begun with prayer ever since.  If the government can pray in their session, why can't the governed pray in their (school) sessions?

 

6) Public schools had prayer for nearly 200 years before the Supreme Court ruled that state-mandated class prayers were unconstitutional (Engle, 1962).  The fact that prayer was practiced for nearly 200 years establishes it by precedent as a valid and beneficial practice in our schools.

 

7) Since the court outlawed prayer, the nation has been in steady moral decline.  Former Secretary of Education William Bennett revealed in his cultural indexes that between 1960 and 1990 there was a steady moral decline.  During this period: divorce has doubled, teenage pregnancy went up 200%, teen suicide increased 300%, child abuse reached an all-time high, violent crime went up 500% and abortion increased 1000%.  There is a strong correlation between the expulsion of prayer from our schools and the decline in morality.

 

8) Morals must be taught, and they cannot properly be taught without religion.  There cannot be a moral law without a moral Law Giver.  And there is no motivation for keeping the moral law unless there is a moral Law Giver who can enforce it by rewards and punishments.  If God does not exist, then He cannot establish an absolute moral code. This leads to Secular Humanism, which (if atheistic) can then, lead to Ethical Relativism.  Ethical Relativism is: the belief that no absolute moral code exists, and therefore, man must adjust his ethical standards in each situation according to his own judgment.  If moral codes do not exist, then truth would not be "absolute."  If there was no "absolute truth," then morals could not be taught, could they?  Moral law without a moral Law Giver does not work.

 

9) Forbidding prayer and other religious expressions in public schools establishes, in effect, the religion of Secularism (i.e. Secular Humanism).  The Supreme Court has affirmed that there are religions, such as "Secular Humanism", which do not believe in God (Torcaso, 1961).  Justice Potter (Abington, 1963) rightly feared that purging the schools of all religious beliefs and practices would lead to the "establishment of a religion of secularism."  In fact, the beliefs of Secular Humanism are just the opposite of the Declaration of Independence.  By not allowing theistic religious expression, the courts have favored the religious beliefs of Secular Humanism, namely, no belief in God, God-given moral laws, prayer and a Day of Judgment.

 

10) To forbid the majority the right to pray because the minority object, is to impose the irreligion of the minority on the religious majority.  Forbidding prayer in schools, which a three-quarters majority of Americans favors, is the tyranny of the minority.  It is minority rule, not democracy.  Why should an irreligious minority dictate what the majority can do?  The majority wishes to preserve our moral and spiritual values and, thus, our good nation.

Now, let's look at the First Amendment in comparison with the later Amendments.  In the United States, public schools are banned from conducting religious observances such as prayer on the legal basis of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which requires that " Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."  The first part of the above amendment which reads ("Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion") is known as the Establishment Clause, while the second part ("or prohibiting the free exercise thereof") is known as the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.  Though each of these clauses originally applied only to the central U.S. government, the Fourteenth Amendment extended the scope of the entire First Amendment to all levels of government, including the state level—thus compelling states and their subject schools to adopt an equally detached approach to religion in schools.  But why?  Well, (ratified on July 9, 1868) during the Reconstruction era, it, along with the Thirteenth and Fifteenth Amendments are collectively known as the Reconstruction Amendments.  However, of those three, the Fourteenth Amendment is the most complicated and the one that has had the more unforeseen effects.  Its broad goal was to ensure that the Civil Rights Act passed in 1866 would remain valid ensuring that "all persons born in the United United States... excluding Native Americans (Indians) not taxed...." were citizens and were to be given "full and equal benefit of all laws." (Quotes om the Civil Rights Act of 1866)  However, it went beyond the provisions of the Civil Rights Act in many ways.  There are four principles asserted in the text of the Fourteenth Amendment. 

1. State and federal citizenship for all persons regardless of race both born or naturalized in the United States was reaffirmed. 
2. No state would be allowed to abridge the "privileges and immunities" of citizens. 
3. No person was allowed to be deprived of life, liberty,or property without "due process of law." 
4. No person could be denied "equal protection of the laws."

Over time, numerous lawsuits have arisen that have referenced the 14th Amendment. The fact that the Amendment uses the word: "state" in the Privileges and Unities Clause along with interpretation of the Due Process Clause has meant that "state" as well as "federal" power is subject to the Bill of Rights.  Further, the courts have interpreted the word "person" to include "corporations."  Therefore, they too are protected by "due process" along with being granted "equal protection."  While there were other clauses in the Amendment, none were as significant as these.  The Supreme Court, in 1954, then made the statement that, "our Constitution presupposes that all men are created equal."  Now, let's look at the definition of the world: presuppose.  Presuppose is defined as: to require or involve a condition or state of affairs necessarily as an antecedent condition in logic or fact.  That is, you think that something is true in advance without having any proof, or you consider that something is necessarily true if something else is true.  So, if one thing presupposes another, it cannot exist or happen unless the other thing is also true.  However, contrary to the Supreme Court, the Constitution "presupposes" nothing.  The Court used the Fourteenth Amendment as its excuse for its justification of its social engineering experiment in the public school system.  What the Fourteenth Amendment actually states is: "the equal protection of the laws," Section 1.  In

Section 1

of the

Fourteenth Amendment

, the framers attempted to create a legal bridge between their understanding of the

Declaration of Independence

, with its grand declarations of equality and rights endowed by a Creator God, and constitutional jurisprudence.  A paradox is a 

seeming

 truth that leads to a contradiction in defiance of truth.  It seems to me that our Federal government has boxed its self into a paradox — actually a real contradiction — with its laws forbidding teacher-led, State-sanctioned school prayer.  After studying our Constitution's enumerated powers in

Article I

,

Section 8

;

and the

First

,

Tenth

and

Fourteenth Amendments

;

I'm now fairly sure of it.  Neither Federal nor State government may establish religion or atheism, but School Prayer alternating with moments of silence would not establish religion over atheism, or atheism over religion.  Under our

Tenth Amendment

, each State would be free to authorize alternating School Prayer and moments of silence in proportion to student demographics — that would be in compliance with our

Declaration of Independence

and

Fourteenth Amendment

.  States are empowered to educate children (

and so are the parents

) because that is a power "

not delegated to the United States by the Constitution

,

nor prohibited by it to the states

."  Under our

Tenth Amendment

, States also possess power to prohibit the free exercise of subversive religion or subversive atheism.  The

Tenth Amendment

, in no way, undermines the power or authority of religion or atheism.  State power to prohibit the free exercise of religion or atheism subversive of equal rights to life, liberty and fruit of labor in pursuit of happiness would be in defense of our

Declaration of Independence

(

equal right

s) and

Fourteenth Amendment

(

equal law

).  Federal government prohibition of the free exercise of non-subversive religion or non-subversive atheism is proscribed by our

First Amendment

;

however, since Federal prohibition of subversive religion or subversive atheism defends the

Declaration of Independence

and

Fourteenth Amendment

, it is acceptable — so there is no paradox or contradiction here.  There is only one rational and moral justification for prohibition of the free exercise of religion or atheism — that is when religion or atheism become radicalized — when either become destructive (

subversive

) of man's equal God-given unalienable rights to life, liberty and fruit of labor in pursuit of happiness (

Declaration of Independence

) — and subversive of the laws (

Constitution and Bill of Rights

) which secure those sacred individual rights.  The

First Amendment

does not apply to the State because many believe that the

Fourteenth Amendment

 may not have been properly ratified (

as far as it looks

).  The

First Amendment

restrict Congress from making laws establishing a religion.  It does not restrict the states from choosing and establishing a religion.  The

First Amendment

creates a secular Federal Government but allow the states to choose a religion.  School Prayer was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court through the

Fourteenth Amendment of The Constitution

.  In

Gitlow vs. New York

, the U.S. Supreme Court said that the

Fourteenth Amendment

allowed the Federal Court to review state laws and incorporate Civil Rights to the individual.  If the

Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution

is invalid (

or

,

at least

,

if the way it is written was not carefully thought out

), the U.S. Supreme Court decision on school prayer is invalid.  The only way the

First Amendment of The Constitution

could apply to the States was through the

Fourteenth Amendment

.  Without the

Fourteenth Amendment

, there was no way the Federal Court can exercise

judicial activism

.  Black's Law Dictionary defines judicial activism as

:

 

a philosophy of judicial decision-making whereby judges allow their personal views about public policy

,

among other factors

,

to guide their decisions

.  That is, the judicial rulings are suspected of being based on personal or political considerations rather than on existing law.  It is important to know this because

judicial activism

is necessary to remove Bible Reading and School Prayer from public schools.  I'm not saying the

Fourteenth Amendment

is not important.  Political events in the United States made the

Fourteenth Amendment

quite necessary.  It ensured the rights of freed slaves.  It voided the Dred Scott Decision of 1857 by declaring former slaves and anyone ever born in the U.S. as American citizens.  The

Amendment's

Due Process

and

Equal Protection Clauses

were intended to protect against racial discrimination by all governments.  In fact, the

Amendment

is often referred to as "

citizenship rights

" and the most important constitutional change in the USA since the

Bill of Rights

.  It's not the Amendment itself I am speaking of, but the misuse of it down through the decades.

Now, while you think about THAT, think about THIS...  Our Founding Fathers (i.e. our country was founded by people) who believed in freedom to practice one’s religion openly and who used their religious beliefs to create the backbone of this nation.  Our children should be able to participate openly in this great heritage, seeking help, strength, and endurance from God as did their forefathers.  Our system of education also has a rich spiritual heritage.  The first American school system, that began in Massachusetts, in 1647, was established to ensure that children would grow up with the ability to read the Bible.  Of the first 108 universities founded in America, 106 were distinctly Christian, including the first, Harvard University, chartered in 1636.  In the original Harvard Student Handbook, rule number #1 was that students seeking entrance must know Latin and Greek so that they could study the Scriptures: "Now this is eternal life: that they know you you, the only true God , and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." (John 17:3).  For most of our nation's history, the Supreme Court did not get involved in state controversies concerning school prayer.  But the Court was not silent, as some might try to argue, because it approved of such practices.  Rather, the Court became involved only after it has settled the issue of whether the Fourteenth Amendment incorporated portions of the Bill of Rights (i.e., made the Bill of Rights applicable to the states) in the late 1800's.  In 1947, the Court held that the Fourteenth Amendment incorporated the establishment clause of the First Amendment (Everson v. Board of Education).  

Secular Humanism is more than just a system of values and beliefs that are opposed to the values and beliefs of traditional religions.  Secular Humanism is a life stance.  It is a worldview.  In fact, it is a RELIGIOUS worldview.  According to the Humanist Manifestos I & II: Humanism is: "a philosophical, religious, and moral point of view."  Thus, it some sense, Secular Human IS a religion; a philosophy viewed as a non-theistic religion antagonistic to traditional religion.  However, to identify Secular Humanism as a "religion" would eliminate the Humanists' main vehicle for the propagation of their faith.  And it is a faith, by their own admission.  The Humanist Manifestoes declare: "These affirmations are not a final credo or dogma but an expression of a living and growing faith."  Theologically, Secular Humanists are atheists.  Philosophically, Secular Humanists are naturalists.  But no matter how you look at it, Secular Humanism is a belief that humanity is capable of morality and self-fulfillment without belief in God.  Secular Humanism assumes that the supernatural does not exist and that reality must be discovered purely from man’s reasoning.  The biggest difference between Atheism and Secular Humanism is that Secular Humanists prefer to define themselves not by what is rejected but what is affirmed; being seen in a positive way by emphasizing what they value rather than what they are skeptical of.  The Secular Humanist Declaration was issued in 1980 by the Council for Democratic and Secular Humanism.  Before the list of signatories, the declaration has the following disclaimer: "Although we who endorse this declaration may not agree with all its specific provisions, we nevertheless support its general purposes and direction and believe that it is important that they be enunciated and implemented.  We call upon all men and women of good will who agree with us to join in helping to keep alive the commitment to the principles of free inquiry and the secular humanist outlook.  We submit that the decline of these values could have ominous implications for the future of civilization on this planet."  Notice it says nothing about constantly denouncing the existence of God or gods.  Allowing prayer back in schools sets an important standard.  It tells students that they are more than just a collection of chemicals and energy that happen to be occupying space and time.  Prayer is an action which proclaims that life is more than saving the environment or accumulating wealth.  The fervency with which school prayer is opposed is because it represents the antithesis to the beliefs of those who set policy for much of our public school system.  A primary purpose of public education is to shape good citizens.  This involves more than just the memorization of facts.  Most Americans are in favor of prayer in public school because they realize that there is something to be gained from the open acknowledgement of God’s existence.  Once acknowledgement of God's existence is removed, there is no absolute basis for morals, and a free society drifts toward anarchy.  Since prayer was removed from public school classrooms in 1962-63, we have had a six-fold increase in violent crime, our divorce rate has tripled, births to single mothers have increased five-fold, the teenage suicide rate has tripled, and SAT scores (standardized college entrance test) have dropped 80 points (approximately 10%).  The removal of prayer may not be the only cause of social ills, but the negative trends are certainly a symptom of the spiritual decline which is at their root.  Our nation was founded on the freedom to publicly acknowledge God’s existence.  Allowing prayer in schools will improve, not detract, from a student’s understanding of the Universe.  As Edmund Burke, correctly noted in 1795: “The only thing of evil is for good men to do nothing.”   As with all truths, this is still applicable today.  School prayer will promote good citizenship.  Founding father George Washington stated: "What students would learn in American schools above all is the religion of Jesus Christ."

Now, yes, I'll admit that in the era of daily teacher-led prayers, America had a number of social ills in 1950's, including segregated public schools.  Back then, you had your Beatniks, your Teddy Boys, and your Greasers who were rebellious.  Did youths sneak around and smoke?  Yes!  Did youths seek around and drink alcohol?  Yes!  So, the social ills were THERE and even increased in the 1960's.  And no, you can't blame in all on declining family values, less discipline to children, rock and roll music, or even prayer taken out of public schools.  They are only a few of many factors in the whole process...  But still, prayer in public school or a moment of silence only violates a student's right to religious freedom, only if they are not allowed to practice their religion.  As far as violence goes?  Violence will always be a problem in school and there is no ONE solution to solve the problem.  Prayer is an extension of religion and every religion drives on moral values created by a Superior Being.  Bringing back school prayer in class would remind students of their religious beliefs, helping to reduce violence by giving students access to their faith.  I guess what I'm saying is: prayer may not STOP all the violence, but it could help PREVENT some.

Over 50 years ago, children could pray in public schools.

On June 17, 1963, the Supreme Court ruled to take prayer out of schools. Not all decisions are good.

Jon Garth Murray (left), Madalyn Murray O'Hair (middle), and Robin Murray O'Hair (right) on June 17, 1988... Little did they know that their days were numbered.

4Paul Lanciault, Janice Lanciault and 2 others

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