Atheist Is Not A Dirty Word

     

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An Atheist . . .

An Atheist believes that a hospital should be built instead of a church. An atheist believes that deed must be done instead of prayer said. An atheist strives for involvement in life and not escape into death. He wants disease conquered, poverty vanished, war eliminated.
--Madalyn Murray O'Hair

Who Was Madalyn Murray O'Hair? In 1964, Life magazine referred to her as "the most hated woman in America".

Madalyn Murray O'Hair was an American atheist activist.who founded American Atheists, "a nationwide movement which defends the civil rights of non-believers, works for the separation of church and state and addresses issues of First Amendment public policy". She served as its president from 1963 to 1986.

On August 27, 1995, O'Hair, her son Jon, and granddaughter Robin suddenly disappeared. Speculation abounded on the cause and meaning of O'Hair's disappearance. Ultimately, a murder investigation focused on David Roland Waters, who had worked as a typesetter for American Atheists.

In January 2001, Waters informed the police that the O'Hairs were buried on a Texas ranch, and he subsequently led them to the bodies. When the police excavated there, they discovered that the O'Hairs' bodies had been cut into dozens of pieces with a saw. The remains exhibited such extensive mutilation and successive decomposition that identification had to be made through dental records, by DNA testing and, in Madalyn O'Hair's case, by the serial number of her prosthetic hip. The head and hands of Danny Fry, an accomplice of the killers, were also found at the site.

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EVENTS IN HISTORY

On this day, April 16, in 1947 a giant explosion occurred during the loading of fertilizer onto the freighter Grandcamp at a pier in Texas City, Texas. Nearly 600 people lost their lives and thousands were injured when the ship was literally blown to bits.

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Also . . .

On this day, April 16, in 2007, in one of the deadliest shootings in U.S. history, 32 students and teachers died after being gunned down on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University by Seung Hui Cho, a student at the school who later died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

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WORD FOR TODAY

prerequisite
noun
A thing required as a prior condition for something else to happen.
adjective
Required as a prior condition.
synonyms
noun precondition - premise
adj.   necessary - requisite - needful

A prerequisite is a required prior condition. If something is required in advance of something else, like if you have to take a beginning Spanish class before signing up for Spanish II, then it’s a prerequisite.

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin
(16 April 1889 – 25 December 1977)

Charlie Chaplin was a British comic actor and filmmaker who rose to fame in the silent era. Chaplin became a worldwide icon through his screen persona "the Tramp" and is considered one of the most important figures of the film industry. His career spanned more than 75 years, from a child in the Victorian era to close to his death at the age of 88, and encompassed both adulation and controversy.

Paul David Graf
(April 16, 1950 – April 7, 2001)

David Graf was an American actor, best known for his role as Sgt. Eugene Tackleberry in the Police Academy series of films.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Born April 16, 1947)

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Jr.) is a retired American professional basketball player. He is the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, with 38,387 points.  In college at UCLA, he played on three consecutive national championship teams, and his high school team won 71 consecutive games. At the time of his retirement, Abdul-Jabbar was the NBA’s all-time leader in points scored, games played, minutes played, field goals made, field goal attempts, blocked shots, defensive rebounds, and personal fouls. Abdul-Jabbar also has been an actor, a basketball coach, and an author.

Jonathan Niven "Jon" Cryer
(born April 16, 1965)

Jon Cryer is an American actor, screenwriter, film director, and film producer. He made his motion picture debut in the 1984 romantic comedy No Small Affair, but found greater fame in the 1986 John Hughes-written film Pretty in Pink. In 1998, he wrote and produced the independent film Went to Coney Island on a Mission from God... Be Back by Five. Although Cryer gained subsequent fame by starring in these films, it took several years to find success on television. The shows in which Cryer starred, such as The Famous Teddy Z, Partners, and The Trouble with Normal, did not last long. In 2003, Cryer was cast as Alan Harper on the hit CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men, for which he won two Primetime Emmy Awards in 2009 and 2012.

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Religion has caused more misery to all of mankind in every stage of human history than any other single idea.
--Madalyn Murray O'Hair

Religion is induced insanity.
--Madalyn Murray O'Hair