Statement Regarding Ellen JohnsonA specially called, and properly noticed, meeting of the five Boards of Directors that together comprise American Atheists, was held on April 29, 2008.All members of the five boards were personally present via telephone at that meeting, including the President Ellen Johnson.By a majority vote of the Board of Directors of American Atheists, Inc, and by a unanimous vote of the Board of Directors of two of the other four corporations, Ellen Johnson was involuntarily removed from the office of President of American Atheists, Inc. and from the office of President of the other four corporations.The bylaws of each of the five corporations permit the removal of the President by a majority vote of the Board of Directors.Out of deep respect for Ellen Johnson?s many services to American Atheists, in deference to her privacy, and with the desire that her Presidency be remembered favorably by history, American Atheists asks that this statement be accepted without calls for further explanation. Be assured that the action taken was in the best interests of the organization and of its membership.Frank R. Zindler, Acting PresidentAmerican Atheists, Inc.; Charles E. Stevens American Atheist Library & Archives, Inc.; Society of Separationists, Inc.; United Secularists of America, Inc.; and American Atheists General Headquarters, Inc.
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Here?s my email from Ellen
From: elljhns8@aol.com
Subject: Re: SignOnSanDiego.com News Nation
Date: April 30, 2008 8:46:05 PM PDT
To: robinarmour@cox.net
Hi Robin,
??I will no longer be available next week. ?The board fired me last night. ?Sorry.
Regards,
Ellen
That would be the night of Tuesday, April 29th, she was fired, one whole week into ?the walk?.
The Board of Directors, or their selected spokesperson, collectively lacked the maturity and character to face a highly capable individual with a mountain of maturity and character to tell her to her face what they had decided. The Board acted as a bunch of despicable weasels, and if this is what we?ve had all along as a Board, it?s time to clean house, starting with the current Board, with the obvious exception of Ellen.
What a colossal embarrassment is this Board.
atheistud@lycos.com
Look, I am not especially trying to defend the board. Indeed, from the outside looking in, the entire matter seems to have been handled rather poorly. If wrongdoing on the part of the board is proven, I will be among the loudest to protest. I am just trying to be objective, and I think that rash speculation and hyperbole are not helping the situation.
I may not be the only one making an apology this week.
Instead of fighting with each other in this information void I prefer demanding that light be shown into the void. I hope that Dave is communicating to the board what is going on in this NoGodBlog microcosm of the American Atheist community.
What,
It IS getting a little deep in here
Let there be light (pardon the expression).
There hasn’t been any further update on the AA homepage. Without giving us information, I don’t know how the board expects to quell speculation. Perhaps we, as members, are not entitled to full disclosure on the firing story, but if there is some problem in the organization that asks for our monetary and sometimes physical support, shouldn’t we be advised of that? I’m trying to remain objective while waiting for facts. The questions won’t go away if the board tries to out-wait our curiosity. But my membership might.
I still want to know, WHAT is this “new direction” the board wants to take? It should be simple to communicate it to us, since it must have taken shape before Ellen was dismissed.
Karen (and others),
You might find this interesting…
http://www.humaniststudies.org/enews/?id=347&article=0
I was hoping AA would be concentrating on issues specific to atheists and leave the separation of church and state to those organizations that do it so much better.
I think Ellen has done a great deal to advance our cause. My question however may seem a bit trivial, but how is the Bill Moore march going. Is it going to be completed regardless of Ellen’s status at AA or will this issue die. I hope it will be finished. I thought it was a very noble cause.
I think someone (some organization) should make a habit of buying ad space on TV and run subtle informational ads like the LDS does. Or maybe not-so-subtle like the anti-cigarette “Truth” ads.
With the exception of lawsuits (which are needed), it seems like all AA and most similar organizations accomplish is preaching to the choir.
We need to get people to understand, emphasize, even, with athiests, and it has to be in their face. And no, going on a show like the O’Reily Factor doesn’t count. There’s a fine line between being an ambassador to the public and being a caged monkey on display.
We must remember that Ellen stepped forward and accepted the reins of Presidency at a time of uncertainty and confusion. Nobody knew what had happened to the O?Hara?s and the rumors were rampant. She had hoped that she was maintaining the organization until their return, but sadly that was not the case when it was discovered that the family was murdered. She did an excellent job in holding the organization together for 13 years. We should respect her for her contribution. Something happened that made the board come to this difficult decision. They did it for what they believe was in the best interest of the organization as a whole. We should respect them for putting aside their personal feelings about Ellen and doing what was best for American Atheists. My guess is that they didn?t reveal it was a firing out of respect for Ellen and for the organization. They were trying to be discreet. Something like this creates chaos in the minds of the membership. But the firing came out anyway, so they had to make a statement. The reasons for the firing may or may not ever come out to the public. My guess is that there may be legal issues to contend with. There is also Ellen?s character and the character of the organization to consider.
Frank has a very difficult and trying time ahead of him. He should be commended for stepping up and accepting the role of acting President at this time. We as members should give him and the board our support as they try to find a new permanent leader for us. It is our organization, an organization of volunteers. It is in our best interests to put this behind us and move forward. We need to help them make this organization strong.
The story will come out when the time is appropriate, until then, I will accept what has happened and move forward. It is not going to be un-done. I believe in American Atheists and what the organization stands for. I offer the board my support.
Look folks, this isn’t nearly as complex as you’re making it out to be.
1) Ellen was on the phone, as was every other member of the board in attendance(individually). Most board meetings (except the one at the convention) are held on a conference bridge as a normal course of action. Ellen was present (on the phone) during the discussion, and she had ample opportunity to debate. There was no ambush, and no surprise. Everything was above board and in accordance with the by-laws of the organization.
2) Boards select presidents to serve at their discretion. When the board chooses, they change presidents. This has been done before, and will happen again in the many non-profit and for-profit organizations out there. It will happen again at American Atheists, since this is one of only two ways to change leadership (the other being the president resigning).
3) It is completely reasonable for the board to withhold the details of the discussion. Indeed, for legal as well as ethical reasons, they MUST not reveal certain details. You all should know and understand this. We CAN’T give more info — it would be the wrong thing to do for everyone. Think of how unproductive it would be for this to devolve into a he said / she said mudfest. That’s how time gets wasted and opportunities get overlooked.
4) We CAN tell you that she didn’t get religion, has not been accused of a crime, has done great things for this cause, and we are very pleased to have had such a talented and vital leader for so long.
5) Bill Moore Walk updates are available here http://alabamaatheist.org/fw2k8
Dave
Thanks for the info in regards to how the firing took place.
But this was not your run of the mill meeting. She deserves far more respect. This troubles me greatly.
Yes, but functional organizations usually have orderly transitions. And now we have a president that says he doesn’t want the job. This transition process is not inspiring confidence in AA. I think it would be a mistake to dig in and take an authoritarian stance with respect to revealing how the organization came to this.
Dave-et al-
Regardless of the “proper” legalities of firing Ellen, it was wrong to do it in the middle of her walk. That was very disrespectful. Surely the Board could have waited another week or two.
That said, I agree that it is time to move on. It is not up to the Board to disclose further details of the firing. That would be up to Ellen should she decide to do it.
However, the Board should make some sort of statement as to what direction they hope AA to be taking, what are their goals, etc. I assume they formulated these ideas prior to firing Ellen or what would be the need to fire her at this time? It would be helpful to the organization if they revealed in what direction they want to take the organization, etc. Also, as you have said previously, this wasn’t done on a whim so why would it take long to appoint a new President? One would hope this would have been discussed prior to firing the old President.
Again, it IS time to move on but to where???
May I suggest the freedom from religion foundation.
ffrf.org
Oh, I didn’t mean move on away from AA. (I’m already a member of FFRI). I meant the AA org should move on but in what direction are they moving? I think it is a mistake to abandon AA, esp now. Kinda fickle!
A statement from Ellen is requested by me. I appreciate you being the middle man Dave cause it’s really ugly right now.
You’re being an excellent ombudsman, Dave. While still providing the best forum for the most open leadership discussion that AA has ever known in its 45-year history.
Can I assume that in the months to come, you’ll be more involved at the central office, as well, since Frank lives in Ohio?
Jeff R., in the other, “transition time” thread, suggests that AA do a print mailing to get suggestions from its offline members. I too am an advocate for such inclusion: In my experience, one-third of freethought-group members aren’t online at ALL, and the participants of Nogodblog are a small fraction among those who ARE online. But mailings are ruinously expensive and slow, with low return rates.
I am Gil Gaudia. My wife Jeanne and I have been editorial assistants for the past two years at American Atheists. In doing so, we have worked closely with Ellen Johnson whom we respect and admire greatly. We have also had telephone and email contact with a few of the board members, especially with regard to editing their manuscripts. We were not impressed with their interpersonal skills. I have also contributed several articles to the magazine. We have just concluded an hour long telephone conversation with Ellen.
We are extremely biased in her favor, because we found her to be hard-working, honest, courageous, competent and caring of us and appreciative of our volunteer contributions.
This board?s action, in our opinion, will almost certainly result in the end of the organization and publication as we know it. We say this because, from first-hand experience we are aware of the number of hours, the amount of coordination and the knowledge of the operation that are all required to successfully produce a monthly publication, and we have no evidence that any of the board members are willing and able to invest that degree of commitment. Indeed, we have some reason to believe that the opposite is true. To those members who propose hiring Dawkins, Hitchins, Harris and others for the presidency, first see if they?ll agree to work for 38K, or thereabouts, in addition to doing latrine duty in their spare time.
For the board of directors of the most well-known Atheist group in America to have taken such a suicidal action is incomprehensible, but whatever their reasons, unless the
members protest strongly and demand her reinstatement, (which she may not even want) it will only be a matter of time before we no longer have an organization to uphold the civil rights of Atheists.
As a contributor of many articles to this magazine, and as volunteers in editing other journal articles, spending many hours of our time in assisting Ellen in producing this publication, we are no longer interested in writing, editing or assisting in any way a magazine whose board has acted in such an irresponsible, unfair and self-destructive manner.
Gil and Jeanne R. Gaudia
In the spirit of making the best of an ugly situation, Here’s an animated AA logo I made yesterday (can be used as a screen background).
Enjoy…
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a157/kiedd/AALogoFinal.gif
I have never met Ellen Johnson, but I have close relatives who know her and think very highly of her, for her many contributions, for her devotion, for her intellect, and for the work she has done over her long career in this very important organization. They have come to know Ellen quite well in their work with her, and have come to respect and admire her.
I am old enough to remember the earlier days of the firebrand MMO, who was loved and needed at that time. As in many new movements, a radical is always necessary, but as times change, needs change. And then we had Ellen, who brought a new face and new demeanor.
I’ve had the pleasure of watching Ellen on various t.v. shows, with O’Reilly, and others, and I think she brought a new sophistication, warmth and presence to the American Atheists organization which was lacking. I was proud to be able to say she represented me and my views. I did not see her as angry (don’t Atheists have a bona fide right to be angry?…tsk tsk to the blogger who commented…are you afraid of female anger?) but assertive and forthright.
I think this situation is a shame, and an insult to all of us who have followed Ellen on the road to opening doors which have heretofore been closed. And no explanation as to what will follow is a further insult. Maybe an explanation is in order.
Nancy Jensen, Licensed Psychologist, lifelong Atheist
Jie
Hey, that’s nice.
Tha Nancy and Gil. I hope the board is paying attention to what is being said on this blog. It’s time to pull back the veil. Certainly this can be done in a manner that does not expose AA to unhelpful outside influences.
Tha -> Thanks
Quoting myself:
“Certainly this can be done in a manner that does not expose AA to unhelpful outside influences.”
This is THE concern, is it not?
Having read the various threads over the last few weeks – I have decided to chime in with a few comments – which I’m sure I’ll regret.
Nothing sucks the fun out of doing work with a volunteer organization like members who think their yearly membership entitles them to immediate responses in chat rooms – especially in this case as if Ellen was drawing a salary – there may be strict laws regarding disclosure of dismissal. In the state of Washington – if I lay someone off I can say “yes, they worked here. From these dates”. I can say whether or not I would re-hire. Thats it.
I have done work with a local non-profit – and by far the worst thing was the constant snipping of people during an already busy time of the org. People who thought their $40 yearly donation or membership gave them any other rights – other than a big thank you and a “if you have input – please make it to the next planning meeting of X, or show up and set up chairs, etc.” That, and if requested the by-laws of the org need to be available – which in most cases are long and boring and entirely legal. Its was constant whining crap like that that sucked whatever bit of soul I had left. I watched as people excited to help out where sucked dry by a few in the community – and realized it was a very thankless job – and this was for a yearly festival – not an on-going magazine, daily blog, and frequent TV appearances.
Everyone wants to give advice – very very very few want to give up a weekend a month – or 20 hours a month – every month – doing what needs to be done to keep the org going.
Nothing sucks the fun out of doing work for a volunteer organization like members who threaten to “leave” when something pops up such as this (leadership change, management change, festival change, logo change, magazine frequency change, advertising change). Really – your hundred bucks was appreciated – but if your interest in the group is so fickle as to threaten to leave the org then certainly – leave.
I’m a life member and when I sent that check in – it was with the hope it was put to good use – but I in no way expect to be pandered to, especially during what is effectively a re-org.
For whatever reason, the board made a decision to remove a very public and active and well-liked person from the top position. We do not have the full story and it really is none of our business. The board has made a decision. As in any such thing – they don’t need to come out 5 days after beginning to change things and give the members a blow-by blow outline of what they plan. Instead – it is our job to volunteer time and $ if it is a cause we support – and wait a year. Next year at this time – if is thriving (or not) we as members can then make a more informed decision as to whether the board had a sound plan in place when they chose such drastic action.
As for the actual removal of Ellen, it is up to her to make a public statement if she so choses. Having friends relay messages with tidbits of info to the blog is only continuing to rile the membership – when she knows the entire “other side of the story” and could immediately stop all speculation if she so chose to.
The above rant said – it does seem a bit of a “F&*% You” to inform someone they have been forced out while they are out of town. It is probably not a new issue – and it probably wasn’t unexpected – but it is a bit like firing someone right before the holidays. Was it so hard to wait another couple weeks?
So, a reorg has happened – and there are still good people like Dave volunteering at AA. So, unless Ellen comes out with a juicy tell-all book, why don’t we just wait and see what happens?
And – for those of you who don’t think this is a volunteer org – I doubt AA has enough funds to properly fully compensate any of their workers.
Frank Zindler stated in the letter above that Ellen was fired. In the original post, the board used deliberatively deceptive language (read: lied). The board could have, and should have, been honest. If it had been, there would still be people (myself included) that were angry with the decision, but those people would probably be a lot less angry than they are now.
We wouldn’t be so demanding if the board had been honest in the first place. Also, this is a blog, not a chat room.
The board fired AA’s longtime president. Its members better have had a sound plan in place before they made their decision. After being lied to (and seeing little reason for the firing), I need to know where the organization is going (at least basically) before I give my support. I find your suggestion that we should trust the board on blind faith to be ridiculous.
That’s one of the main problems. The board was unnecessarily cruel and either incompetent (not realizing this would fan the flames), conniving, or apathetic.
Eric
I think you are missing the point that many of us here are making. This was a very disorderly transition of power. This shakes one’s confidence in AA and once that is gone so go the memberships. One does not rebuild confidence with opacity and authoritarian decrees. This is especially the case where atheists and freethinkers are concerned.
“Ellen Johnson was involuntarily removed”
Big mistake. Terrible mistake. I’m disappointed and disgusted.
Eric ? I can totally relate to your rant. I have donated more hours and dollars to this volunteer organization and a few others I belong to than I could afford to. I?ve burnt myself out more than a few times over the years. The people who do nothing always want more and more from the people who do something.
I stepped up after MMO disappeared and I will step up after the firing of Ellen if the board needs or wants anything from me. I liked Ellen as I?m sure most if not all of the board members did. What?s done is done and now is the time that they need our support more than ever before. They are all volunteers also. They all have personal lives outside of AA which takes up their time, energy and money.
American Atheists is our organization and it is only as strong as its membership. The religious organizations would love to see us fall apart.
The decision to fire Ellen must have been a very difficult and heart wrenching one for the board. It was not a flip decision and they must have had good reasons to come to that decision. At this point in time we are not privy to their reasons because of legal and ethical reasons. So be it.
I will miss Ellen, but I now will back Frank. I hope the board takes their time and selects a good, effective President for us.
Plus, Ellen just had a birthday a couple of weeks ago. Really bad timing.
What an infovoid!
Not good. Not good at all!
American Atheists has been a communist popular front organization for many years. MMO was rightfully skepital of jews and other zionists. EJ turned the business over to jew supremacists. The attempt to emulate the 1950-60s communist activities in Mississippi must’ve really pissed off the jews. Civil rights are for negroes and other non-whites under the guiding hand of the ADL, SPLC and other bonafide anti-white hate groups (to borrow a Marxist term). American Atheists under Johnson was critical of Christians and sometimes Muslims but never a truthful word about the Chosenites could be uttered.
Typically, when an employee is fired, the employer offers hush money to not disclose any opinions about why they were fired. Many times, the employee is in need of the money and agrees.
Sometimes there is something issue or event that is potentially embarassing but not illegal, and the employer and employee both agree to keep mum.
Either of these, or something else, could be why an official statement with more information was not made available. If it’s hush money, it’s a real shame. A simple two-sentence explanation could make things very clear.
That said, in the face of no illegalities, it is difficult to understand why this had to be an immediate removal — unless all parties wanted it to be immediate. And in that case, even that could have been stated.
On the surface, it’s bad form.
Bart,
This is from Gil and Jeanne Gaudia.
We want to take you up on your call for everyone to start working together in order to get American Atheists back on track. Therefore we would be willing to resume our volunteer work with Ellen (and any board members we can assist, in any way we can) in order to return to the status quo ante. If Arthur needs help or Rachael, and we can do it via email or telephone, we would be happy to offer this service, without compensation (as it has always been) in an effort to spark a resumption of business as usual.
Sincerely,
Gil and Jeanne
Dear friends,
I have thought long and hard about the decision I made about withdrawing my sponsorship of “The Atheist Viewpoint”.
This has not been an easy decision to make because I am torn between what the board did to Ellen and the fact that the voice of Atheism and rational thought must never be dimmed.
Today I read and heard numerous times of the comments that “reverend” John Haggee made about the catholic church and also that “god sent Adolf Hitler to the jews”…
I am attaching just one of the articles on Hagge and how John McCain has now rejected the Haggee endorsement. Hopefully this will show the nation how ridiculous and frightening fundamentalist religion really is.
After seeing that Haggee will be picking up where the (thankfully) departed delusional Jerry Falwell left off in his outrageous “faith filled” mindless spewing of hate, I have decided while I do not agree with the boards decision to fire Ellen, I must (after really thinking hard about this) yield to the greater good of continuing to give American Atheists a “voice” in the very catholic and evangelical/ protestant populated city of “saint” cloud, MN.
I have decided to continue my membership in American Atheists as well as continue to sponsor “The Atheist Viewpoint ” here on Charter Cable Channel 12 on Tuesday evenings at 7:30 PM Central Time.
Please know that my greatest and most sincere hope is that Ellen and the board can work through all of their difficulties and Ellen will be re-instated as President and Co-Host of “The Atheist Viewpoint”.
I care about Ellen and I care about the future of American Atheists.
I finally had to realize that much, much more was at stake here than we realize…..
The very survival of the human race is in jeopardy if fundamentalist, irrational religious zealots like John Haggee are not challenged with rationality, proof of the lies and errors of the bible and stopped.
I hope that all of you, especially Ellen can understand my position.
I met so many of you wonderful people at the American Atheists convention in Minneapolis and you all made me proud to be counted among you as a fellow secular humanist.
Please. Make me proud again. Let’s all try to work together for a rational world and put our differences aside once and for all for the common good. Our world and the future of our human species is literally at stake here.
Timothy, please continue to mail me Atheist Viewpoint Episodes.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Jack Richter An American Atheist…just like YOU!
Frank Zindler ;
“We?re hitting the ground running, folks!”
The six (6) word sum total of what I’ve seen from the BOD under the energetic and masterful direction of Mr. “Z”.
Pathetic, beyond description.
Ellen would have been popping up every day on every cable and TV show except the Cartoon Network, plus video on the AA web site, the weekly, informative, valuable and entertaining cable show “Atheist Viewpoint”, podcasts all over the place, and on, and on like the Energizer Bunny.
It’s long past the time when the whole BOD needs to be taken out for an afternoon of electroshock, just to see if there’s any life left in any of them.
I sure hope the Board knows what it is doing. Even as of the current date (7-17) it is not evident what reasonable plan is/was in place for getting a replacement.
Interesting though, that the request “that this statement be accepted without calls for further explanation” could effectively eliminate questioning what the board can do now more efficiently, that they couldn’t have done with an effective president remaining in place through the interim period.
It seems like a “placeholder” was elected in place of a functioning president. I have heard or seen no evidence of any actions issued by the presidency since Ellen’s dismissal.
Alright! We finally have evidence of life!
http://www.atheists.org/nogodblog/index.php/2008/07/21/letter_fro_prez_zindler#comments
There is some buzz that the board members felt Todd Friel of WOTMR humiliated her and embarassed atheists everywhere in their recent interview.
“that this statement be accepted without calls for further explanation” is simply on variation on the ridiculous “God works in mysterious ways” line. I will not renew my membership if this is how things are going to be done. Some sort of explanation is certainly not to much to ask.