More deceit and silence from AAI

As atheist activists, we rightly challenge religions when they behave unethically. We should also challenge unethical behaviour by people purporting to represent us as atheists.

John Hamill has published a report in which the illegitimate ‘board’ of Atheist Alliance International knowingly misled the United Nations about AAI’s bylaws.

This follows the Council of Europe removing AAI’s consultative status, and the Attorney General of California revoking AAI’s status as a nonprofit organisation.

In July, I sent the ‘board’ evidence of two more of the many misuses of power that have rendered the activities of AAI illegitimate.

• The first was that the supposed secretary had admitted that he and his colleagues were not elected to the AAI board, yet acted for years as if they had been.
• The second was that a past board member had admitted that the then board knowingly and secretly suspended democracy within the organisation.

The ‘board’ responded as follows:

“Hello Michael, We have been looking at the points you made and these will be discussed at our regular board meeting on Sunday. I expect to have more to say after that.”

That was more than three months ago. I have not heard from them since.

Most of the current supposed ‘board’ did not cause these problems. They were misled into joining the supposed ‘board’, unaware of the illegitimacy of their positions. But they are responsible for how they have reacted to becoming aware of the truth.

Because they collectively continue to ignore these scandals, I want to put on record that some of them know that others have behaved unethically.

• As far back as 2020, one current ‘board’ member told me that they agreed the behaviour we were discussing did not look innocent, that the board had agreed to resign (which they did not do), and that the unethical people were gone or mostly gone.
• Earlier this year, another told me and Shirley Rivera that they could get enough board members on their side to remove at least two named members. We responded that their position was also illegitimate and they had no authority to remove others.

To some extent, I can understand why the supposed ‘board’ are doing nothing, as they have no authority to do anything. But if they believe the issue of AAI’s illegitimacy will go away by ignoring it, or by knowingly deceiving the United Nations, they are mistaken. Sadly, at this stage, I think AAI is beyond rescue.