Page 28 - Heavenly Signs III by Mel Gable

26

The majority of these acts of collective worship are required to be “wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character”
with two exceptions:

 Religious schools, which should provide worship appropriate to the school's religion. Most religious
schools in England are Christian.
 Schools where the Local Education Authority's Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education has
determined that Christian worship would not be appropriate for part or all of the school.

Currently, Section 70 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 is not compatible with Article 9 of
European Convention on Human Rights, part of the Human Rights Act 1998. Despite there being a statutory
requirement for schools to hold a daily act of collective worship, many do not. OFSTED's 2002-03 annual
report, for example, states that 80% of secondary schools are not providing daily worship for all pupils.
29

Madalyn Murray O'Hair

Madalyn Murray O'Hair (April 13, 1919 – September 29, 1995) was an American atheist activist. She was the
founder of the organization American Atheists and served as its president from 1963 to 1986. One of her sons,
Jon Garth Murray, was the president of the organization from 1986 to 1995, while she remained de facto president
during these nine years. She is best known for the Murray v. Curlett lawsuit, which led to a landmark Supreme
Court ruling ending official Bible reading in American public schools in 1963. This came one year after the
Supreme Court prohibited officially sponsored prayer in schools in Engel v. Vitale. O'Hair later founded
American Atheists and became so controversial that in 1964 Life magazine referred to her as “the most hated woman
in America.” In 1995, she was kidnapped, murdered and her body mutilated, along with her son Jon Murray and
30
granddaughter Robin Murray O'Hair, by former American Atheist office manager David Roland Waters.
In 1960, Murray filed a lawsuit against the Baltimore City Public School System, in which she asserted that it was
unconstitutional for her son William to be required to participate in 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.
31
After consolidation with Abington School District v. Schempp, the lawsuit reached the Supreme Court of the United
States in 1963. The Court voted 8–1 in Schempp's favor, which effectively banned mandatory Bible verse
recitation at public schools in the United States. Prayer in schools other than Bible readings had already been
ended in 1962 by the Court's ruling in Engel v. Vitale.

O'Hair later filed a lawsuit with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in regard to the
Apollo 8 Genesis reading. The case was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court for lack of jurisdiction. The effects
of the suit were varied. Although, NASA asked Buzz Aldrin to refrain from quoting the Bible in the Apollo 11
mission, he was allowed to conduct the first communion service in space.
32

Madalyn Murray's lawsuit which contributed to the removal of compulsory Bible reading from the public schools
of the United States has had lasting and significant effects. Until the lawsuit, it was commonplace for students to
participate in many types of religious activities while at school, including religious instruction itself. Nonreligious
students were compelled to participate in such activities and were not usually given any opportunity to opt out.
The Murray suit was combined with an earlier case, so the Court might have acted without Murray's intervention.

29 "Standards and Quality 2002/03". Ofsted. 2004-02-04. Retrieved 2009-04-22.
30 Goeringer, Conrad F. (2006). "About American Atheists". atheists.org. American Atheists. Retrieved 2007-12-01.

31 Zindler, Frank (2008). "Madalyn Murray O'Hair". In Joshi, S. T.. Icons of unbelief: Atheists, Agnostics, and Secularists. Westport,
Connecticut: Greenwood Press. p. 323.
32 "Apollo Expeditions to the Moon: Chapter 8". NASA. n.d.. Retrieved 2012-04-25.