Madalyn’s Missing--but Don’t Bother Praying for Her : Atheism: Rumors have spread that O’Hair is dead, ailing, or even in hiding. She still has a forum on cable.

It is not like Madalyn Murray O’Hair to be so silent.

For more than 30 years, the world’s most persistent and vocal atheist has kept her reputation alive by trumpeting her opinions, having her say about everything from prayer in schools to the “In God We Trust” imprint on the dollar bill (she blots it out with a black marker).

So it is curious--and in some quarters, ominous--that O’Hair, 76, has not been seen since late August here at the American Atheist Center that is the cornerstone of her life. She has not responded to local headlines that speculate she is missing, ailing, perhaps already dead. She did not even show up to picket the Pope.

“When I last talked to her--and I am the last known person to have talked to her--about three weeks ago, she was fine; everything was OK,” said Spike Tyson, 45, O’Hair’s spokesman.

Is he worried about her? “Not really. I have a minor concern. You can’t know her as long as I have or love her as much as I do and not be a little concerned. Let’s put it this way: When she does show up, I’m going to chew her butt.”

The rumors have taken vivid form: O’Hair has absconded with $100 million and lit off for Tahiti. O’Hair is dead but does not want the Christian world, or her estranged elder son, to know. O’Hair is dying but wants to do so in private, fearing “those Christers,” as she calls them, will feel compelled to pray for her soul.

This last one even earned a mention on the season premiere of “Saturday Night Live,” when the “Weekend Update” anchor noted that O’Hair had disappeared, and that her family had requested “everyone not to pray.”

O’Hair’s standing as the preeminent spokesperson for atheism dates to her 1962 landmark case before the U.S. Supreme Court, a companion to the case that led to the banning of prayer in public schools.

Then a lawyer working as a welfare-casework supervisor in Baltimore, O’Hair was inspired by her elder son, William J. (Bill) Murray, who objected to having to participate in daily prayers at his junior high school.

From that platform, O’Hair built a controversial career battling what she described as “the concerted effort . . . to make us a Christian nation.” She seemed to relish her self-designation as “the most hated woman in America.”

Ironically, O’Hair’s efforts later would be renounced by her elder son, who in 1977 converted to Christianity and now heads a Washington, D.C.-based group called Citizens to Restore Voluntary School Prayer. O’Hair now commonly refers to him as “the rotten apple in the barrel.”

Bill Murray, 49, did not return telephone calls but earlier had been quoted in the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram as suggesting his mother “has done this in the past,” vanished for weeks at a time, as a fund-raising ploy. But he told a reporter: “This family is so bizarre, you guys can’t get close to describing it. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was sitting frozen in the back of a van somewhere.”

Despite Murray’s defection, the religion-fighting endeavors remain a family affair, and the spacious American Atheist Center here is a testament to the single-minded industry of O’Hair; her younger son, Jon Garth Murray, 41; and her granddaughter, Robin Murray O’Hair, 30, Bill’s daughter whom Madalyn Murray O’Hair legally adopted.

Founded by O’Hair in 1965, the center has a mailing list of 50,000 people, Tyson said, and its rooms are filled with atheist bumper stickers (“Jesus is Lard,” “Praying is Begging”) and framed quotes from the O’Hair arsenal (“I Have No Faith in Religion”).

In late August the family threesome departed for what was supposed to be a two-week vacation at an undisclosed location, Tyson said. “We don’t know why, but they’ve definitely been gone longer,” he said. With their absence, the center has a dark, deserted look, with only Tyson there to field the scores of telephone calls from as far away as Germany and Japan.

“A lot of people are concerned--she is an international figure,” Tyson said. Then again, some callers have their own message to convey. “God bless you, Madalyn; I’m glad you’re dead,” is a common sentiment, Tyson said.

Even as the rumors of her death swell, O’Hair is still a very much alive presence on cable television. New installments of her “American Atheist Forum,” which she hosts with Jon Murray, are airing weekly in Austin and 140 other markets.

Typical programs feature O’Hair, with her white thatch of hair and implacable manner, calmly shredding the Republican-propelled “contract with America,” or railing against the religious nature of U.S. currency.