Dear Supporter: 

I am not writing to you today as the chairman of the Religious Freedom Coalition. This is a personal letter and an explanation of how some things work in Washington, DC.

Often in the newsletters and articles I write, there are photographs of me with various elected officials. These include photos with Senators, congressmen and even Presidents. I attended numerous events with President George W. Bush, and there is even a formal photo of my wife Nancy and me with him that he personally autographed for us.

With Speaker Of The House Paul Ryan

To the right is a photo of me with the current Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan. And on the next page are photos of me at events with Senators Rand Paul and Ted Cruz.

I am sure many who have seen photos like this wonder how I am able to meet and talk with powerful politicians such as these about issues important to social conservatives. Honestly, being chairman of the Religious Freedom Coalition does not give me the access I need to meet these powerful men and talk with them about issues such as genocide of Christians in Iraq and Syria.

To meet men in powerful positions on Capitol Hill, I need a Political Action Committee.
Almost every social conservative leader you can think of has a Political Action Committee with which they are associated, to enable them to have access to powerful men such as Speaker Paul Ryan.

My political action committee is the oldest social conservative PAC in Washington, founded in 1994 during the Gingrich “revolution.”

The name of my political action committee is GOVERNMENT IS NOT GOD – PAC. I chose this name because I believe that no government should try to take the place of God in the lives of people.

Much younger in 1995 – Speaker Newt Gingrich and myself at podium, Congressman Istook behind us.

For decades, thanks to liberal politicians and courts, the mention of God and the role of the church have been restrained, while government has taken an ever more active and oppressive role in family, school and even religious affairs, places where it does not belong.

The political action committee of which I am the chairman supports only godly candidates who put God first in their lives and come to Washington to put God first in government.

You would be very familiar with the names of the candidates we have supported over the years such as former Congresswoman Michele Bachmann from Minnesota and Presidential candidate Governor Mike Huckabee.

The Freedom Caucus in Congress was founded by Congresswoman Bachmann, and when she returned to private life, Congressman Jim Jordan took over as chairman. My political Action Committee supported Jim Jordan in his first run for Congress in 2006.

Being the chairman of a political action committee, I am invited to many receptions to support candidates. For example, at a reception for Jim Jordan I may know that someone else I really want to talk to will be there, such as the chairman of an important committee. I kill two birds with one stone! I support a good godly man for Congress by paying to go to his reception, and while there I am able to meet with and discuss an issue with the Chairman of a committee.

With Senator Ted Cruz

Running Government Is Not God – PAC is important because I am able to present issues that are important to the people who support the Religious Freedom Coalition.

It is through the PAC that I am more able to have time with legislators and to discuss legislation with them. At these PAC events I am able to meet their staff members, who will remember me when I call their offices.

Frankly … I get more done for the cause of liberty and religious freedom on Capitol Hill through the PAC. It would be hard for me to do all I do as the chairman of the Religious Freedom Coalition without the PAC to help me make contacts.

With Sen. Rand Paul

Do you remember Senator Jesse Helms? He was a great friend of President Ronald Reagan. It was Senator Helms who first invited me to Washington, DC in 1982 to meet with President Reagan in the Rose Garden of the White House when Senator Helms publicly announced an attempt to pass legislation to allow prayer back in public schools.

Senator Helms wanted me there because it was my mother, Madalyn Murray O’Hair, who had filed the lawsuit to remove prayer from the schools back in the early 1960’s. After my meetings with Senator Helms in 1982, he told me that I should move to Washington to help him and President Reagan restore the rights being taken from Christians even back then.
 
It took ten more years before I moved from Texas to Washington, DC. During that time, I often found myself literally commuting from Dallas, Texas to Washington DC, sometimes as many as four round trips per month as I was asked to participate in meetings and even hearings.

Just after Bill and Hillary Clinton moved into the White House, I met Congressman Newt Gingrich at an event in Dallas. He told me about his plan to get control of the House and about the “Contract with America.” He told me that once he got in he would assign a congressman to really push to get prayer back in the schools. I believed him and I set up Government is Not God-PAC to help elect godly candidates to Congress, to work with Newt Gingrich.

In 1994 he in fact did win! Republicans took control of the House for the first time in 40 years, while the Democrats lost 54 seats. Even the Democrat Speaker of the House was defeated. Once in office Speaker Gingrich kept his promise to me and assigned Congressman Ernest Istook to push for a Constitutional Amendment. Congressman Sam Brownback, who later became a Senator and is now the Governor of Kansas, also helped.

One event I held in Washington to support the School Prayer Amendment was attended by Speaker Gingrich, Majority Leader Dick Armey and Majority Whip Tom DeLay. Sadly, we were never able to move the legislation, because it was blocked in the Senate again and again.

I could list dozens of names of congressmen and Senators that I have met and worked with who were helped by GING PAC to win their first election, then went on to be a real asset to the social conservative cause once they were in office.

With President Bush

I met Karl Rove and George W. Bush in Texas before Bush was elected governor of the state. I was invited to his inauguration as governor of Texas, and then later Karl Rove convinced me to work on the Bush presidential campaign.

Government Is Not God- PAC supported Governor Bush for President, and for the eight years he was in office we had good access. One of his Special Assistants helped me save Christians who had been sentenced to death in Afghanistan. Sadly, his invasion of Iraq wound up doing more to harm than help Christians there. I am sure that if he had known what the results were going to be, he would not have invaded Iraq.

While Bush was President I was invited dozens of times to the White House, and was even there for the swearing in of Supreme Court Justice Alito.

My access to President Bush and to many Senators and congressmen began because I met them through Government is not God -PAC.

There are a lot of bad actors running political action committees in Washington, DC, particularly “super PAC’s” and they can raise huge amounts of money and spend it anyway they want to. As an example, George Soros funds several socially destructive Super PACs.”

Government is Not God is not a Super PAC and by law can accept only limited amounts in donations during an election cycle, as well as facing other restrictions.
 
My PAC cannot directly give a candidate more than $5,000, but we can spend any amount to campaign separately for the candidate — as long as we do not inform him or his campaign committee in advance.

With Mike Huckabee in 2008

During the 2008 primary campaign, I did everything I could to help win the GOP nomination for Governor Mike Huckabee, including paying for hundreds of thousands of phones calls to voters in Florida and South Carolina. It was a sad day when we lost because I knew Senator John McCain – the angriest man I ever met – could not beat either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton.
There was some real cheating in the primary … I saw it … the nomination was stolen from Mike Huckabee!

In 2015 Governor Mike Huckabee invited me along to Poland to teach pastors the lessons of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz. We are still friends today and communicate by email often.

My PAC – Government Is Not God – is still active. During the 2016 election, I fought to reelect godly men such as Senator Roy Blunt who headed the Senate Values Action Team that works to pass pro-life legislation. He led the way to defund Planned Parenthood. Government Is Not God helped to elect new congressmen and Senators in 2016. Sadly, we lost the chairman of the Prayer Caucus in the House, Randy Forbes – but we put up a good fight to help him.

It isn’t over. It is never over. If we don’t fight hard every two years to elect godly men and women to Congress, the ungodly will be happy to take their seats.

Once in office the social conservatives we do elect will work with us to help the cause of Christ and will help the Christians of the Middle East.

REMEMBER … This is a personal letter, and is not from the Religious Freedom Coalition. I am writing to let you know how I am able to meet powerful men on Capitol Hill that help me in my work to help persecuted Christians in the Middle East and to work for religious freedom back home here in the United States.

The Government Is Not God – PAC bank accounts were drained during the 2016 election had have not recovered. GING-PAC has less funds on hand for the 2018 mid-terms than during any other period. New members are needed for Government Is Not God – PAC to help elect pro-life, pro-family social conservatives to Congress in November. There is little time left.

There are crucial elections for Senate seats in Nevada, Arizona, Missouri and Tennessee where real social conservatives – men and women who love the Lord – are running for office.

I am asking your help. I am not asking for thousands of dollars. A gift of $30 or $50 or even $100 can help GING-PAC make a difference Will you help me keep a valuable asset such as Government Is Not God – PAC working to elect godly men and women this year? Please.

William J. Murray, Chairman
Government Is Not God – PAC