William J. Murray The Atheist “Royalty” Member Who Found Jesus, Part 2

On one level, William J. Murray had it made: For some time, his income was funded by American Atheists, the organization founded by his mother, Madalyn Murray O’Hair. Then, he got into airline work, rising into management positions where he could be more anonymous than his “atheist royalty” status might have suggested.

William, after all, had been a plaintiff in a Maryland lawsuit that led to the removal of Bible readings and prayers from the nation’s public schools. But years in the spotlight, and under the thumb of an abusive, erratic mother, took its toll on William. His first marriage ended in divorce, his daughter from that marriage adopted by Madalyn, who raised the child as an atheist. His second marriage was in trouble. And alcohol, which Murray once saw as a balm, took over his life with devastating consequences.

“I drank a quart of vodka a day and by the time I was thirty I had been married twice,” Murray would later recall. “I turned to a twelve-step program to stop the drinking and there found my first awareness of a loving God. Yet that God had no name,” he added.

Reading the Bible led him to a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. On Mother’s Day in 1980, Murray came out publicly as a Christian, earning this rebuke from the mother he’d not spoken with in years: “I repudiate him entirely and completely for now and all times. He is beyond human forgiveness.”

As part of his new evangelism, Murray—who became a Baptist preacher— spoke out about his mother’s abuses and excesses, most notably in a memoir, My Life Without God, and by speaking across the country. When asked why he opposed her publicly, he said, “I soon found out it was impossible to tell the story without the truth.”

Sadly, Madalyn Murray O’Hair’s story did not end well: An employee of American Atheists kidnapped her, William’s daughter Robin, and his brother, Garth. After obtaining $500,000 in gold coins from the family, the employee and an accomplice killed all three.

Today, William J. Murray lives secure in God’s love, and works to guarantee religious freedom for persecuted Christians in other nations. He also lobbies to overturn the Bible-reading-in-school bans that his landmark case created.

Reflect: Finding God and receiving Jesus as Savior changed the course of William Murray’s life, and for the better. Do you have (or know of) a similar “radical” conversion story?

Key Bible Texts

And Azariah begat Amariah, and Amariah begat Ahitub, (1 Chronicles 6:11 KJV)