RUSH: Lee in Leesburg, Virginia, welcome to the EIB Network. It’s nice to have you here.
CALLER: Thanks, Rush. WIXZ dittos. (laughs) I got a question, Rush. Since when in American history did it become taboo to speak about God or Christ in public? I was born in the mid-sixties, born and raised in McKeesport, Pennsylvania —
RUSH: Yeah?
CALLER: — and ever since I was a kid it has always been, ‘Don’t mention anything like that,’ even though I’m surrounded by churches, everybody’s going to church on Sunday, we all know where we’re going. But to speak outside of that context was always like you were stepping on eggs or something to speak about it. What…? When did that start, and why?
RUSH: Well, it depends on what part of the country you’re in. For example, in California you have never been permitted to. (laughing)
CALLER: Oh. (laughing)
RUSH: I was thinking about this. I looked at your call up there, and I’m thinking back. I was born 1951 and all through the sixties — and I’m in a small town in the Midwest, but — it was never taboo. We had a nativity scene; Christmas decorations went up. Nobody — nobody — ever tried to stop anybody from any public display of the Christmas holiday or talking about God. My best guess, without doing original research on this, would be the sixties. I think most of the maladies that we’re undergoing today started with the counterculture ’60s.
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: Madalyn Murray O’Hair sued and the Supreme Court ruled in her favor. She was an atheist. That was 1964. At least as far as the schools were concerned, that’s where it began. You could not mention God-d in the schools because Madalyn Murray O’Hair had victory at the Supreme Court of the United States. (interruption) Yeah. Eisenhower added ‘under God’ to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954, and Madalyn Murray O’Hair said, ‘Take it outta there! You can’t put God in there, not in the public schools!’ There it began. And then the assault on nativity scenes or any public display of Christianity came under assault, and it was all part of something that continues to this day, and that is simply an attack on the traditions and institutions that built this country.
Now, as I said, there have always been people in this country who don’t like it. There have always been atheists. There have always been people upset that God was mentioned, but they shut up about it. You know, they stayed in their little hovels and they complained and moaned to themselves. They felt like victims to themselves. Then suddenly Madalyn Murray O’Hair comes along and all these minorities of people finally decided, ‘You know what? There are victories in the politics of grievance here and we can get what we want. We can change this society so we don’t have to be faced with this stuff that repulses us,’ and it just grew and grew and grew — and of course fairness and not wanting to offend anybody and everything, you might say, that was held sacred by people of the country was under assault.
People just said, ‘You know, it’s easier. Okay, you don’t want God in the school? Fine. I’ll go to the church.’ People didn’t want the confrontation. The people that were opposing all of this were blowing up buildings and so forth as they opposed the Vietnam War. You know, they were burning down buildings and firebombing cars in Chicago and this kind of thing. It is an interesting historical trace. Madalyn Murray O’Hair… Some of you may not know this. Madalyn Murray O’Hair was the chief speechwriter for Larry Flynt’s 1984 presidential campaign. She was the first guest on the Phil Donahue show. So you can see that all of this stuff has its roots with Madalyn Murray O’Hair and the ’60s, and now there’s no culture anymore. All we have is counterculture, the counterculture. We get Obamaites (former Obamaites now) praising Mao Tse-tung at the National Cathedral.
What was her name? Anita Dunn did that. So there is no distinct American culture. That’s what’s in hiding. The distinct American culture, that’s what takes place behind closed doors so nobody’s offended. The counterculture today is what dominates — especially in pop culture, the entertainment community, movies, books, Hollywood stories and so forth. So that’s that, the best I can answer the question. Glad you called out there, Lee — and, folks, we have to run. Like you, many of us have to travel through the woods. Some stop there, some keep going, to get to grandmother’s house. But I want to thank all of you again for always being here. Even those of you who claim you’re not, we know you are. We thank you. This couldn’t be done without you. You are more valuable to all of us here at the EIB Network than we could ever be to you, and we thank you immensely for it, more than we’ll ever be able to in a tangible way.
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By the way, Madalyn Murray O’Hair founded an atheist radio program in which she criticized religion and theism and a TV show she hosted. American Atheist Forum was on more than 140 cable TV systems. This was under the Fairness Doctrine, by the way.