In the 1960’s, an pioneering atheist by the name of Madalyn Murray O’Hair fought to have mandatory prayer banned from public schools, arguing this was a clear violation of the separation of church and state. 1963, the Supreme Court voted in her favor, and since then, classrooms around the country have stopped forcing kids to pray (it’s a common misconception people aren’t allowed to pray, but the ruling was simply to no longer make it mandatory). Since that time, many Christians feel a great amount of animosity towards this woman, and blame the “decline” of America on the fact prayer is no longer being forced on kids. This accusation is ridiculous, of course, but you can’t seem to convince them otherwise. Take this pathetic article here*, accusing Madalyn of being an immoral adulterous atheist who wanted nothing more than revenge on religion:

Those of us who believe in God and the power of prayer, recognize that if the courts had not banned prayer in schools, these tragedies [Columbine] may not have happened in the first place. Moreover, those of us who attended public school know that prayer could only help the train wrecks our public schools have become in America.

One school in Philadelphia, PA, fifteen minutes from the Abington High School, built a cement wall down the middle of the school, hoping to cut down on the ‘violence between the students’. This particular high school went through twenty principals in two years because of the violence. In addition, the wall did not help.

Therefore, I suggest that instead of cement walls, we build walls between ourselves and those trying to wipe out God altogether, and begin praying in school again.

The author of this post also suggests the murder of Madalyn is further proof violence is escalating in America, despite the fact crime is actually been going down for over a decade. This is what I love about religious folks; not only do they love dealing with insane hypothetical situations that have no basis in reality, but they make up facts (like claiming crime is more rampant now prayer is out of schools) to support their bullshit claims. The author also seems to delight in the fact Madalyn was the victim of a grisly murder, which had nothing to do with Abington School District v. Schempp. Oh the compassion: it burns!

*(UPDATE: the website and article are no longer hosted)