Far from encouraging Crystal, the school district not only stopped her from distributing the Bibles, but confiscated them from her. Protests from myself and other religious leaders did nothing to help Crystal with the school district and Mat Staver of the Liberty Counsel finally had to file a lawsuit. WE WON!

It was some forty years ago, in 1960, that my own mother, Madalyn Murray O’Hair filed the lawsuit to remove prayer and Bible reading from our public schools.

It is the year 2000, and now it is Christians who are filing lawsuits to protect their First Amendment rights of freedom of speech and freedom of press.

How did we get from there to where we are today? In one of my books, Let Us Pray, I detailed the mood of the nation and the inclination of an activist judiciary that changed the face of the nation

Yes, my mother, Madalyn Murray O’Hair, filed one of the lawsuits to remove prayer from America’s schools, but she did not-- I repeat, did not-- cause God to be kicked out of our schools, nor was she responsible for the moral decline of this nation.

Supreme Court Justices such as Earl Warren, along with extreme social liberals in the lower courts, set out to change America through judicial activism.

Their goal was the secularization of America and the destruction of religious icons. Where they could not win they demeaned. Knowing Americans would not tolerate the removal of "In God We Trust" from our coins and dollars, they simply declared these words as "secular in nature".

These extremists found ways in which they could radically change America -- by legalizing the murder of the unborn and by tearing apart neighborhood schools.

There was no Constitutional basis for their actions. This was simple abuse of power to socially engineer society to their liking; in layman’s terms, a bunch of over educated white men decided they could overthrow 6,000 years of civilization and reorder society.

They failed and did far more harm than the good they intended.Court-ordered public housing concentrated African-Americans into crime ridden buildings, disrupting neighborhood schools and causing white flight which destroyed the tax base of our major cities.

The courts gave criminals more rights than their victims. The mentally ill who were cared for by cities and states were dumped on the streets in the name of "their rights". We now call these poor unfortunates in need of our help, "the homeless".

But, the greatest of the destruction accomplished by the judicial extremists was in our schools.

The 1962 and 1963 anti-school prayer decisions by the Supreme Court were just the beginning. These precedent-setting cases became tools of those such as Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State to stamp out all public reference to the Almighty.

The ACLU, a criminal enterprise which specializes in "Green Mail," has successfully used the ‘62 and ‘63 decisions to trample upon the freedoms of students and teachers.

Last spring these extremist organizations sent letters to virtually every high school in America, threatening expensive lawsuits if graduating seniors were permitted freedom of speech to honor their religious beliefs publicly.

The New York City school board in 1999 faxed a copy of a B’nai B’rith letter to every city school with a note to follow its instructions and not allow children or teachers to express their beliefs during Christmas.

And here in Missouri, students were not only prohibited from distributing Bibles; those Bibles were confiscated and at one point a student was threatened with arrest.

Let’s stop for a minute and look closely at what happened in Columbine High School in Colorado.

The shooters who took more than a dozen lives were hooked on violent role playing games that demeaned human life.

Not unlike most of the young school house shooters in 1998 and 1999, at least one was using mind altering prescription drugs. It is an American fad to dope up young males-particularly black males in our schools.

The secularists claim God is a crutch human beings don’t need. Isn’t that what Reform Party Governor Ventura said? The secularists prefer our children having the "crutch" of prescription drugs.

Columbine is sort of a modern American model for what a purely secular institution should be. Counselors and psychologists push "values clarification" programs and pills which have fully replaced age old Judeo-Christian values.

The liberal social engineering of our schools and institutions has brought about a culture of drug dependency and violence.

In the midst of this chaos brought forth by radical leftist social engineers in black robes, there are those with courage who stand up for that which is right.

Crystal Patterson and her friends at this very school did something which our Constitution protects and they were told to stop. The Bibles they wanted to give to their friends at this school were confiscated!!!

When violations of the basic Constitutional rights of students began in 1963 with the Warren Court decision, the ACLU stood as the primary " civil rights" organization. Did I say "civil rights" organization? That’s what they call themselves; I don’t.

Did the ACLU rush forward to protect Crystal Patterson’s right of free speech? No.

Today, however, unlike forty years ago, there are real civil rights organizations to protect the rights of Crystal and her friends.

The Liberty Counsel of Orlando, Florida is one such true civil liberties organization. Mat Staver, the general counsel of the organization, immediately saw the gross violations of the rights of Crystal and her friends and became involved.

Mat Staver has taken lawsuits defending the rights of Christians all the way to the Supreme Court and won. Usually a letter from him outlining a student’s rights is enough. But, Mat and the Liberty Counsel will file suit if they have to.

In the case of Crystal and her friends, a lawsuit that cost the school district money had to be filed. In the end, the school system was forced to settle and Crystal and her friends are able to distribute Bibles in their schools.

For decades school officials throughout America have repressed Christian students for fear that if God were mentioned in the halls of their school buildings, then a lawsuit would be filed against them by the ACLU. Hear this school bureaucrats of America: if you repress Christian students and do not allow them their freedom of speech you will wind up in court.

Christians in America refuse to ride in the back of the bus while a minority, a handful of secularists, get first class status to preach their hatred of God and religion in general.

I am tired of the liberal, politically correct Nazi like dogma. This dogma would allow Christians to be publicly brutalized while criminalizing the criticism of homosexual acts.

In a free, democratic society, people are not punished for what they think regardless if the thought is repugnant to a minority or to the vast majority.

If a man robs a bank to buy drugs he is punished for robbing the bank. If a man robs a bank to buy guns to overthrow the government, he is punished for robbing the bank. In a totalitarian s

ociety, the man would also be punished for his thoughts while robbing the bank.

My friends, the secular social extremists want a class of "hate crimes". They want men and women to be punished for what they are thinking during the commission of a crime. How long will it be before the liberal social engineers declare that a verbalized thought is a crime?

Will the day come when Crystal and her friends are not only prohibited from distributing Bibles but jailed for merely thinking or talking about distributing Bibles?

Bible believing Christians are now a minority in America. According to every poll, only one in three Americans believes the Bible is the inerrant Word of God. Yes, we are a minority!

As a minority we must fight for our rightful place in this increasingly hostile secular environment. We must speak out, we must vote and we must run for public office.

As I have watched the Republican presidential debates, my admiration for Alan Keyes and Gary Bauer has grown. These men have put forth the Word of God during these debates. They have repeatedly promoted the protection of unborn babies and the Christian heritage of this nation.

So inspired was I by Governor Bush’s declaration that Jesus Christ was the most influential person in his life, that if I could take the time from my work I too would run for public office.

For nearly two decades I have worked to undo the ungodly work of my family. Since 1995 I have worked with Congress and Republican leadership to pass a Religious Freedom Amendment to the Constitution. I have worked tirelessly and with great frustration to stop partial birth abortion and defend the rights of the unborn.

I will continue to work in Washington, DC to make sure legislation is passed that protects freedom of speech for Christians.

There are those who say people who are openly religious should not be in politics. Of course those who make that statement don’t ever want Crystal to be allowed to give Bibles to her friends at school.

As a minority, Bible believing Christians must stand up for themselves and fight for equal representation, for equal rights in the courthouses and in the schoolhouses.

Christianity is the safety net of our democracy, of our Republic. If the safety net is destroyed by the secularists, no one will be safe from the politically correct thought police.

Before it is too late you and I must stand up for every Crystal Patterson whose rights are violated. I will be there and you should be as well, if not in person, in spirit: if not in spirit, in prayer. For our faith and nation, where a Crystal Patterson calls out we must go forth to help.

The ACLU has filed a lawsuit to stop silent prayer in the West Monroe, Louisiana public schools. The school has been following a law passed by the state of Louisiana in allowing for a moment of meditation or prayer each day not to exceed five minutes. The ACLU claims this violates the "civil rights" of a young man called "John Doe". The ACLU does not even give the real name of the individual who they claim does not want to have the opportunity to pray at school.

On January 30th I will speak at a massive rally at the football stadium in West Monroe. More than 300 churches are working together for the rally. The ACLU lawsuit to stop the children of West Monroe from praying in school has outraged the citizens. It is estimated that more than 20,000 people will attend.

At first the local school board was going to use its own attorneys to defend the rights of the school children to pray. When I learned this, I immediately recommended the Liberty Counsel be called. Mat Staver of the Liberty Counsel had just won the Missouri case and I believe he has a better idea of the workings of these types of cases and the tactics of the ACLU.

After several local meetings the school board decided to accept the expertise of Mat Staver, which I believe is the wise and proper thing to do.

Because of the time required to print and distribute the William J. Murray Report, information on the rally to be held in West Monroe cannot appear until the March issue.

The rights of our children and our grandchildren to talk about the Lord are being taken away. There are few people or organizations to stand up to the secularists and the ACLU as they work to destroy the Christian heritage of the nation. In Washington, DC there are only about a dozen full-time social conservative organizations to stand up to the liberal secularist agenda. The Religious Freedom Coalition is one of those organizations. To assist the Religious Freedom Coalition in its work to stop the secularists and return the Word of God to its rightful place in American society, please send your contribution to:

In January of this year my congressman, Herb Bateman, annoucned he would retire due to ill health. For several years many who sit in power in Washington, DC have asked me to run for Congressman Bateman’s seat should he retire.

When his retirement came about I did form an exploratory committee as many had asked me to do. There was great enthusiasm among many of my supporters throughout the nation. Several people immediately sent large checks with notes saying I should run for Congress.

For awhile I myself was enthusiastic about running for the seat and taking my unique perspective to Washington.

Then the reality sank in. Being a congressman is a seven days a week, sixteen hours a day job. If elected I would have to give up my work with the Religious Freedom Coalition.