A Historical Note

Your Petitioners Are Atheists...

A Historical Note

A HISTORICAL NOTE: June 17, 1983 marked a milestone in the history of American Atheists and the continuing struggle for separation of government and religion. The date was the 25th anniversary of the famous U.S. Supreme Court decision MURRAY v. CURLETT which brought to an end -- for that era, at least -- the unconstitutional and coercive practice of bible recitation in the public schools. While religious groups throughout the country never gave up in their efforts to either sneak prayer back into the schools under the guise of "a moment of silence" or "student-initiated prayer", 1983 was a time when the Murray O'Hairs could look back on the accomplishments of the previous quarter-century. An issue of The American Atheist Magazine marked the event. Mr. Jon Murray, one of Madalyn O'Hair's sons and President of the organization at that time, reflected on 25 years of Atheist activism. Robin Murray O'Hair, then 18, was already writing articles and carrying out duties for American Atheists. And Madalyn Murray O'Hair told the story of the first words in the legal petition that went not only into the law records, but into the history books as well. They appeared on the inside front cover of the magazine, vol. 25 No. 6...

Your Petitioners Are Atheists...

In 1959, the Murray family started a legal case which was destined to reach the United Sates Supreme Court to be decided there on June 17, 1963 just twenty years ago. The name of the case was Murray v. Curlett and decision of that august body was that bible reading and unison prayer recitation in the public schools of the land were both unconstitutional exercises vis-a-vis the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

The road from 1959 to 1963 was hard and long. Scores of attorneys were contacted to handle the case and each and all were afraid of it.
Indeed the attorney who drafted the original complaint which was filed with the court quit the case a week thereafter. The Murray family insisted from the beginning that it should be known that they were opposed to the exercise of bible reading and prayer recitation because they were atheist, and no attorney wanted to mention that in the case. But, Madalyn Murray insisted, and finally one attorney asked her to draw up a short statement (about 250 words) on what an Atheist was that would be put into their petition for relief. That statement was written -- and became famous as the media across the land reproduced it everywhere. Now, these twenty years later, we reproduce it here for you:

'Your petitioners are Atheists and they define their lifestyle as follows. An Atheists loves himself and his fellow man instead of a god. An Atheist thinks that heaven is something for which we should work for now - here on earth- for all men together to enjoy. An Atheist accepts that he can get no help through prayer but that he must find in himself the inner conviction and strength to meet life, to grapple with it, subdue and enjoy it. An Atheist thinks that only in knowledge of himself and a knowledge of his fellow man can he find the understanding that will help to a life of fulfillment.

"Therefore, he seeks to know himself and his fellow man rather than to 'know' a god. An Atheist knows that a hospital should be built instead of a church. An Atheist knows that a deed must be done instead of a prayer said. An Atheist strives for involvement in life and not escape into death.

He wants disease conquered, poverty vanquished, war eliminated. He wants man to understand and love man. He wants an ethical way of life. He knows that we cannot rely on a god nor channel action into prayer nor hope for an end of troubles in a hereafter. He knows that we are our brothers' keepers in that we are, first, keepers of our lives; that we are responsible persons, that the job is here and the time is now."

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