Из историята на Америка

Madalyn Murray O'Hair -
founder of "American Atheists"

Founded in 1963 by Madalyn Murray O'Hair as the Society of Separationists, American Atheists was the result of the legal cases Abington School District v. Schempp and Murray v. Curlett (1959) which were later consolidated. Both Abington and Murray challenged mandatory prayer in public schools. Over the years American Atheists has filed numerous lawsuits against public institutions it considers to have breached the wall of separation between church and state. The organization, which has approximately 2,200 members, is headquartered in Cranford, New Jersey.

In 1959, Murray filed a case on behalf of her son, William J. Murray, who was being forced to attend bible readings in school and was being harassed by teachers and school administrators for refusing to participate.

The consolidated case, usually cited as Abington School District v. Schempp (although, arguably, Murray v. Curlett became the more famous of the two,) was argued before the United States Supreme Court on February 27 and February 28, 1963.[4] In her opening statement, Madalyn Murray said, in part,"An atheist 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."

The justices rendered their decision on June 17, 1963. It was in favor of the petitioners, 8-1. They ruled that state-mandated prayer and unison bible readings in public schools were a violation of the Establishment Clause in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Justice Potter Stewart was the sole dissenter.


The American Atheists logo, based on the atomic model. Officially, the letter 'A' in the middle stands for America, commonly used to refer to the United States. It would, in theory, change for expansion into other countries. The open-ended vertical orbital signifies that not all is known yet