American Atheists? What's up with them?

[WillParkinson]

I have a folder put aside for stuff from them. Just checked in it and haven't gotten anything new since February 2008. No action letters, no newsletters. Nothing.

Have I missed something about what's going on with the group? Is it still in play? I checked their website and same story. Nothing really new in the action reports since late last year. (At least that I saw.)

Does anyone know what's going on? I know they have a new president so assumed that things just needed a while to pick up.

[trotsky]

1. Who knows.

I've never encountered an atheist group that can function cohesively for more than a year or so without bickering, political shenanigans, or outright corruption. It's the nature of having a group of people that have absolutely nothing in common but the answer to a single question, "Do you believe in god(s)?"

[laconicsax]

2. Maybe Johnson was the glue holding the group together?

[Az]

3. They are going through an identity crisis

Johnson (no relation... er my last name is Johnson.. and I have long blond hair... but I'm a guy.... so no relation... er never mind) was a O'Hare loyalist. She was running AA based on her motif. Primarily a legal/political watchdog group keeping an eye out for issues pertaining to separation of church and state violations. But over time the needs of the Atheist community have grown and changed. The central people in AA such as Johnson had very strong views about AA or anything atheist becoming anything like a social group. And anything about organizing Atheists as a community beyond legal issues smacked too much of religious like groups and gave them hives.

But atheism has grown as a movement since when O'Hare stood up and knocked the school board on its ass. We need more than just a legal action group now. And the AA community has been edging in that direction despite Johnson and other's protests. It has splintered and fractured a number of times as a result of this and now with the departure of Johnson I suspect that the acting leadership does not know which way they want to go. Thus they are having a bit of an identity crisis.

Of course these are just my opinions. I have been wrong about AA in the past. But this is what it looks and smells like to me.