***Update***: The largest atheist group in Australia, the Atheist Foundation of Australia, has pulled out of joining as an affiliate due to Sherlocks statements.

I posted yesterday about a troubling situation brewing at Atheist Alliance International, one of the larger atheist organizations in the world, with nearly 200,000 fans on Facebook and Special Consultative status with the United Nations.

You can read the details here, but the gist of it is that the groups executive director Michael Sherlock had called one critic a cunt and used the slur retarded in multiple tweets. (His defenders insisted he was using the technical definition meaning slowed or delayed, but its clear in context that wasnt the case.)

Three members of AAIs not-yet-publicized advisory board told me they were resigning as a result of the comments. Sherlock himself spent part of yesterday lashing out at me personally.

Now we have an update.

Last night, AAI posted their own statement online. It says that the board has suspended Sherlock for a month, without pay. He has also been reminded that damaging the groups reputation could lead to being fired without advanced notice.

Thats a start. Interesting that (as of this writing) they posted it on Twitter, where they have significantly fewer followers, and not on Facebook, which is their primary way to communicate with supporters.

Whilst AAI expects to encounter controversy in the public sphere, it is our strict policy to treat everyone with respect. Our job is to attack bad ideas or behaviors but not to attack people and certainly never to resort to personal insults. The committee found that Michael fell short of these ideals in this exchange.

Theyre referring to the exchange in which he called a critic a cunt twice. But what about all the other times he used that word or other similar slurs? Saying he fell short suggests his rhetoric was just fine with AAI until he used that particular word in that particular thread.

But its his overall behavior thats a problem, not a singular incident. Hes just abad representative for the organization.

What about the use of retarded? AAI doesnt care about that one at all.

The committee found that Michael used the word without intending any disrespect or offense to anyone.

Oh. Well that settles it then. He meant retarded in a good way. Obviously.

Kaitlyn Gleason, the person Sherlock insulted, didnt buy the statement either, saying it missed the mark. She told me this last night:

I dont care if Michael thinks Im a cunt. I care about using language that is hurtful to intellectually disabled people. We should all do our best to ensure we do no harm to vulnerable groups of people. There are plenty of other words he could have used and he should have. There is no excuse.

Today, he again defended using the word while calling those of us who were concerned irrational, a militia of morality police, and self-righteous and self-appointed conformity crusaders on a jihad.

How can you stand by someone who does not understand how using a word like retarded is a problem? Clearly, members of your advisory board agree that this word has no place in a decent, humanist society since multiple members resigned.

As atheists, we have to do better and we have to demand better. We already struggle with a bad reputation simply because we dont believe in gods. This kind of behavior does not help our cause.

Again, I appreciate the consideration that you gave this incident and I wish you continued success in the work you do.

I would just reiterate that I want groups like AAI to succeed. If their goal is to make atheism more acceptable and help people in other countries when their rejection of religion puts them in harms way, Im right there with them. But when their leader is openly hostile to constructive critics and making statements that are impossible to defend, its creating more obstacles for our shared goals.

Why even have a group to solve big problems when all youre doing is creating new ones? I dont get it.

I guess well find out in a month (or sooner) how seriously the board takes its own statement and how much of a leader Sherlock wants to be. In the meantime, there are other groups doing much of the same work in normalizing atheism. Consider becoming a member of any of them.

Excerpt from:

Atheist Alliance International Temporarily Suspends Director Over Use of Slurs - Friendly Atheist - Patheos