William J. Murray III (born May 25, 1946) is an American author, Baptist minister, and social conservative lobbyist who serves as the chairman of the Religious Freedom Coalition, a non-profit organization in Washington, D.C. It lobbies Congress on issues related to aiding Christians in Islamic and Communist countries. The son of the late Madalyn Murray O'Hair, known as an atheist activist, Murray was named as the plaintiff in his mother's challenge to mandatory prayer and Bible reading in public schools. After it was consolidated and heard as Abington School District v. Schempp (1963), the US Supreme Court ruled that mandatory Bible reading was unconstitutional. After becoming a Christian in 1980, Murray published a memoir, My Life Without God (1982), about his spiritual journey. Biography William J. Murray III (known as Bill) was born in Ohio in 1946, after his mother Madalyn Mays Roths had returned from service in Italy during World War II. His father was William J. Murray Jr., a married Catholic officer with whom Madalyn had an affair while they were both stationed in Italy. Though Murray refused to get a divorce and marry Madalyn, she divorced her husband, changed her surname to Murray, and named her newborn son William J. Murray, after his father. Madalyn moved with the baby to Baltimore, where her mother and brother lived. In 1954, Bill's half-brother Jon Garth Murray was born. When Bill was still a child, Madalyn started hosting Socialist Labor party meetings and encouraged him to attend so he could "learn the 'truth' about capitalism." Madalyn became an atheist activist when the boys were still young and attending public school. In 1960, after returning with her two boys to the United States from a trip to Paris during which she unsuccessfully applied for immigration to the Soviet Union, she brought Bill to the local junior high to enroll him in classes and was incensed to see the students praying during class. After various attempts to prevent Bill's attendance during prayer and Bible reading time, Madalyn gained national attention when she filed a lawsuit challenging the practice of compulsory prayer and Bible reading in public schools as unconstitutional, naming Bill as plaintiff. The Murrays' case, Murray v. Curlett, was folded into Abington School District v. Schempp before the Supreme Court of the United States heard the issues. In 1963, it ruled that mandatory Bible reading in public schools was unconstitutional. The