She took over as president in 1995 after founder Madalyn Murray O'Hair went missing along with her son and granddaughter.

(They were later found to have been abducted and murdered by two ex-convicts, one of whom, David Waters, worked for her organization.

[3] Starting in 1994, she was the co-host of The Atheist Viewpoint, a television program which was available as of 2003 "on dozens of cable systems throughout the nation and on the Internet.

[1] On May 2, 2008, it was announced on the American Atheists blog that Johnson was leaving her post as president.

On May 7, 2008, it was made public that Ellen Johnson was removed involuntarily by a vote of the board of directors.