This is the e-mail I sent on November 21, 2008 to Ed Buckner:

The following is an appeal to the Board of Directors of American Atheists, Inc:

While I am not a member of American Atheists, I am a concerned American atheist.

In a recent post on your blog, Edwin Kagin praised the recent conclusion of American Atheists’ lawsuit against the Hardesty, Oklahoma public school and certain named officials as a victory for atheists and thanked the Smalkowski family “for their praise of our [American Atheists'] efforts on their behalf.” Soon after, disparaging comments appeared, apparently from the Smalkowski family, directed at Edwin Kagin and American Atheists. I contacted David Silverman to ask that he verify the authenticity of the comments, and he replied that he didn’t know if they were from the Smalkowskis. I then asked that he investigate further, and let me know the results. I have yet to hear back from anyone.

I took it upon myself to try to find the Smalkowskis, and after a brief search, found Chester Smalkowski’s My Space page. In response to a message I sent him, he told me he was indeed the author of the comments in question, and that he meant every word. It literally took me five minutes to find him, but it seems American Atheists couldn’t be bothered.

While I understand very well that there are 2 sides (at least) to every story, and that those not directly involved will never have all the details, this much is clear:

1. The prayer circles after basketball games continue.
2. For fear of their safety and to avoid harassment and intimidation, Nicole Smalkowski and her siblings are being home schooled.
3. The Smalkowskis fired your legal team following the criminal trial.
4. Even though the Smalkowkis were awarded a monetary settlement in their civil case, it wasn’t enough to cover their legal expenses.
5. American Atheists has been awarded a monetary settlement resulting from the federal case it filed directly related to the Smalkowski case.

To address this disparity, I am asking American Atheists to split their settlement, minus legal fees, with the Smalkowski family. You are under no legal obligation to do so, of course, but consider that without the Smalkowskis, Nicole in particular, American Atheists would not have been entitled to anything in the first place. Having American Atheists profit while apparently turning a blind eye to the plight of the Smalkowskis is a moral outrage. Sharing the settlement with the Smalkowkis would go a long way toward demonstrating that American Atheists truly defends and supports the atheists of America.

Since I haven’t received any answer to my private request, I’m making a public appeal to members of American Atheists and everyone concerned to join me in pressuring the leaders of American Atheists to do the right thing and share their monetary settlement with the Smalkowskis.

::links edited out per poster’s request ::

We aren’t commenting on this further, because we CAN’T comment on this further.  Get it?

American Atheists cashes in, the Smalkowskis continue to pay the price for speaking out.

I urge members of American Atheists to withdraw their membership and donate their dues to Nicole Smalkowski at the following address:

Nicole Smalkowski
c/o education
716 E. McKee St.
Greeneville, TN 37743

I’m sure any donation would be a welcome show of moral as well as financial support.

Does this mean that castleton will be leaving our blog now, since s/he is withdrawing membership?? Boo, freaking Hoo.

Is this simply a knee-jerk reaction, pixel, or have you looked into the issue and made an informed decision to dismiss me?

If the latter, please let me know where I have gone wrong, and what I have said that wasn’t accurate or honest.

Sometimes I get pissed off at him, then I have to remember that he is just in character, and trying to agitate.

It works.

It was a knee-jerk reaction. I’ve not looked into the issue as much as you have. I have no idea if what you said was accurate or not. However, I am fairly certain that you do not know the “whole story” either. I find it interesting that you would withdraw your membership to this organization over this. Maybe AA just fights lawsuits for their own profit, but I have not seen evidence that this is so. If they actually file suits for the good of us non-believers, I think they are an organization worth supporting. I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings, but I was kinda just sticking up for AA.

P.S. I did not either sneer! If you knew me, you’d know that I’m a nice middle-class, middle-aged, suburban housewife who is nice to everyone (almost).

Boise–
Colbert cracks me up. I’m just glad that there are a couple of shows out there that don’t cater to the religious right. It’s interesting that these kind of shows are comic in nature. The conservative shows are NEVER funny! Well, not on purpose, anyway.