Inspire and motivate young people. The Ethical Society has an opening for a part-time Sunday School Director to serve grades pre-K through high school.

• Curriculum focuses on humanist values, personal ethics, world religions, community service, and character development.
• Director will work with paid staff, volunteer teachers, approximately 40 families and 70 students.
• Salaried position. Estimated 10-15 hours a week.
• Qualifications: understanding of Ethical Humanism, curriculum development, and excellent people skills, especially recruiting and working with volunteers.
• Send resume to Sunday School Director Position, 9001 Clayton Road, St. Louis, MO 63117. Inquiries: (314) 991-0955.

Status: Part time

Hours: 10+hours per week (specifically 3.0 of these hours will be Sunday morning from 9:15AM-12:15PM when the Sunday School is in session).

Reports to: Head of Staff

General Description:

The Ethical Society Sunday School director provides leadership and inspiration for the education of Sunday School children and youth, ages pre-kindergarten through high school. (See the Sunday School Core Values at the bottom of this post.)

Purpose of Position:

The Sunday School Director(SSD), guided by the Ethical Education Committee (ECC) is responsible for development and maintenance of the Sunday School (SS), i) curriculum and overall program, ii) interfacing with volunteers, staff, families, members, iii) promoting the benefits of community interaction and personal growth for the students. These efforts secondarily help with the growth and development of the Ethical Culture Movement.

Duties:

Evaluating the work of the SS with the support of the Ethical Education Committee, SID (Special Interests Director), and SSAA (Sunday School Administrative Assistant).

Developing and maintaining SS curriculum and lessons.

Preparing the annual budget with the ECC and SSAA.

Preparing new lessons when necessary.

Enlisting and training volunteers from the SS and the Society to assist and teach.

Assisting staff and volunteers with student behavior that disrupts the SS milieu.

Providing volunteers and staff with lessons and all necessary materials.

Communicating regularly with students, families, and the community to promote classes. projects, and events with the assistance of the SSAA.

Assuring that students, parents, and newcomers are greeted and welcomed at SS and related events.

Meeting regularly with the Leader, Ethical Society staff, EEC, Program Council, students, Nursery School board, parents , and others when indicated.

Communicating with SS directors of other Ethical Societies, share programming information, and participate with the AEU Religious Education Committee when appropriate. Potentially travel to participate to the AEU Religious education Conference.

Assisting in planning and coordinating

• Valentine Buddies (February)
• Thanksgiving Festival (November)
• Spring Festival (March)
• Youth Sunday (May)
• Coming of Age ceremony and luncheon (May)
• Recognition Breakfast (May)

Qualifications: understanding of Ethical Humanism, curriculum development, and excellent people skills, especially recruiting and working with volunteers.

The Ethical Society’s Sunday School core values are an essential part of the curricula. All lessons emphasize the 12 core values:

• Ethics is my religion.
• Every person is important and unique.
• Every person deserves to be treated fairly and kindly.
• I can learn from everyone.
• I am part of this earth; I cherish it and all the life upon it.
• I learn from the world around me by using senses, mind, and feelings.
• I am a member of the world community, which depends on the cooperation of all people for peace and justice.
• I can learn from the past to build for the future.
• I am free to question.
• I am free to choose what I believe.
• I accept responsibility for my choices and actions.
• I strive to live my values.

“Slaves, Servants and Soldiers: Uneven Paths to Freedom in the Border States, 1861-1865, ,” a platform presented by Dr. Louis Gerteis is now available on our podcast page.

By exempting the Border States from the terms of the Emancipation Proclamation, President Lincoln continued to extend to them some of the autonomy they had enjoyed during the first years of the war. Civil governments continued to function in Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri, and in the new state of West Virginia, but Lincoln also authorized the imposition of martial law in these states. Lincoln rejected repeated pleas to resolve the tensions in the Border States, either by placing them entirely under federal military control or by deferring to the authority of their civil governments. Lincoln’s middle course helped to insure that the Civil War in the Border States earned its name. Conflict in these states raged at the most intimate levels of civil society.

Platform: Groping Toward Democracy in a Jim Crow City by Priscilla Dowden-White, Ph.D.

Decades before the 1960s, social reformers began planting the seeds for the Modern Civil Rights era. During the period spanning World Wars I and II, St. Louis, Missouri, was home to a dynamic group of African American social welfare reformers. The city’s history and culture were shaped both by those who would construct it as a southern city and by the heirs of New England abolitionism. Allying with white liberals to promote the era’s new emphasis on “the common good,” black reformers confronted racial segregation and its consequences of inequality and, in doing so, helped to determine the gradual change in public policy that led to a more inclusive social order.
11 a.m. Auditorium.

Platform Music: Member drummers

Colloquy: A guided meditation and discussion on a topic that changes weekly.
9:45 a.m. Boardroom.

Forum: “War Made Easy”, part I by Don McQueen
9:45 a.m. Hanke Room.

Sunday School:
10 a.m. until noon

Ethical Mindfulness Meditation:
8 – 9:30 a.m. The Foyer.

A British animation that captures the best of Orwell’s “fable” while making it sufficiently subdued for children. There is violence, but it takes place “out of camera,” as it were.

Surely you know the story: The pigs of Manor Farm stage a revolution against Jones, a drunken sot who has neglected his animals. But like most revolutions, it soon devolves into conditions worse than with Jones for the rest of the animals, and a vicious power grab by the pigs.

One of the best parts is that early in the change from Manor Farm to Animal Farm, the pigs post a series of rules that sound good as far as they go. Then one by one they modify the rules to suit themselves. While I would normally show the cover of the DVD in the photo category, this time I’m posting a screen shot toward the end of the film.

Statements in this review do not necessarily express the thoughts or opinions of the Ethical Society of St. Louis or its leadership.

Here’s an extended excerpt from last Sunday’s platform address, “Growing Together,” given by yours truly as a kick-off to our yearly pledge campaign. Please feel free to comment and share with others.

We often talk about growth here at the Society: both the personal ethical growth that each of us seeks for ourselves and for our children, and also growth in the number of people whose lives we are able to affect.

And in a wider context, of course, every day we hear anxious politicians and economists debating the growth of the economy: Is it growing fast enough, how can we increase the rate of growth? And yet not often enough, I think, do we hear, or have, discussion and debate about how to define healthy growth.

I recently read What’s the Economy For, Anyway? by John De Graaf and David Batker. It’s a question I’ve been asking myself for years, particularly when I hear that “the economy” requires that a certain percentage of people be unemployed; or that we can’t require manufacturers to follow environmentally sustainable practices like being responsible for how their products are ultimately disposed, because it would be bad for “the economy.”

These kinds of statements never make sense to me because “the economy” is an abstraction; it doesn’t have needs and it doesn’t suffer. People have needs; people suffer. People invented the economy, presumably to make human life better. So to talk about people as if we served the economy is to get things entirely backward—as when Emerson wrote, “Things are in the saddle and ride mankind.”

What’s the Economy For, Anyway? critiques the cult of economic growth as measured by Gross Domestic Product, or GDP. Since GDP grows when people spend money on anything–including chemotherapy, oil-spill cleanups, the Iraq War, campaign attack ads–clearly we cannot measure the health and success of our country simply by looking at whether GDP is growing. Rather, in order to find a way to properly measure the health and success of an economy, we have to decide what the economy is for—what the purpose of the economy should be.

The book’s authors suggest that the purpose of an economy should be to provide the Greatest Good for the Greatest Number over the Longest Run. Whether that’s the perfect purpose for all time, I don’t know. But it sure sounds a lot better than growth for the sake of growing, without regard for whether we’re growing trees or ulcers, wiser citizens or just bigger banks.

So I’ll accept this as a good answer to the question “What’s the Economy For?”: The economy is a system created by people to provide the greatest good for the greatest number for the longest run. Instead of GDP this could be called GEP: Gross Ethical Product, especially since it’s clearly based on utilitarian ethics.

I want to use this new definition of Gross Ethical Product to help us answer a more local question: What’s the Ethical Society’s Economy For? Why do we want to grow our resources?

If we think of the Ethical Society as seeking the Greatest good for the greatest number for the longest run, what does that look like? Figuring out what is the greatest good is our main ongoing endeavor—educating ourselves and the wider community about the pressing issues of our day, insisting that such decisions should be guided by reason, science, compassion, and a faith in universal human worth. Our faith in universal worth leads us to advocate for the greatest number—for the human and civil rights of all people, especially those whose worth is questioned by others and whose rights are being denied, whether for reasons of color, sexuality, money, religion, belief. In this election year we again have politicians seeking votes by demonizing certain groups, the rich seeking to divide and further weaken workers. The Ethical Society stands for the Greatest Good for the Greatest Number. And we make decisions on what is the greatest good for the greatest number by looking to our ideals for the future, “for the longest run.” We have a vision of a future for humanity in which all people act so as to bring out the best in each other and in themselves, living in such a way that the environment and other species are actually helped rather than hurt by our presence. We’re supposedly the smartest species on this planet; that seems like a worthy purpose for the longest run.

–

[I also announced our second new societywide ethical action project, the “adoption” by the Ethical Society of St. Louis of the city school of Gateway Institute of Technology.]

. . . Ethical Culture as a movement from the beginning identified education as the key to breaking cycles of poverty and to creating a better society for all—to create the greatest good for the greatest number requires providing the best education to the greatest number. The NY Society created the Workingman’s School, the first free kindergarten in NY, the Ethical Culture schools and the Manhattan Trade school for Girls, all before building themselves a permanent home for the Society. Similarly, the first project of this Society in 1888 was the creation of the Self-Culture Halls to provide educational opportunities to workers and their children, long before the building of the Sheldon Memorial Hall.

The adoption of Gateway will finally provide a new way for the Ethical Society to reengage with city students, to build stronger ties outside our community, and to pass on the opportunities that many of us have been lucky enough to receive.

The adoption of Gateway is one living example of how we can Grow Together here at the Society. We can grow as individuals by sharing our talents or just ourselves and our time with those young people who need a helping hand just a few miles from our doors. And we can grow as an Ethical Society by putting our values and our good words into actions and giving those who come in our doors–long-time members, newcomers, visitors–a way to make a difference in the life of this city, and therefore in their own lives.

And isn’t that what we ultimately want? To be a part of a like-minded community where we can share openly our deepest beliefs and thoughts and feelings, and where we can join together to make a difference in this world, to be the gardeners of the future that we would like to see, and grow something beautiful together.

Inspire and motivate young people. The Ethical Society has an opening for a part-time Sunday School Director to serve grades pre-K through high school.

***********************

Updated (1x) the bullets.

• Curriculum focuses on humanist values, personal ethics, world religions, community service, and character development.
• Director will work with paid staff, volunteer teachers, approximately 40 families and 70 students.
• Salaried position. Estimated 10-15 hours a week.
• Qualifications: understanding of Ethical Humanism, curriculum development, and excellent people skills, especially recruiting and working with volunteers.
• Send resume to Sunday School Director Position, 9001 Clayton Road, St. Louis, MO 63117. Inquiries: (314) 991-0955.

Status: Part time

Hours: 10+hours per week (specifically 3.0 of these hours will be Sunday morning from 9:15AM-12:15PM when the Sunday School is in session).

Reports to: Head of Staff

General Description:

The Ethical Society Sunday School director provides leadership and inspiration for the education of Sunday School children and youth, ages pre-kindergarten through high school.  (See the Sunday School Core Values at the bottom of this post.)

Purpose of Position:

The Sunday School Director(SSD), guided by the Ethical Education Committee (ECC) is responsible for development and maintenance of the Sunday School (SS), i) curriculum and overall program, ii) interfacing with volunteers, staff, families, members, iii) promoting the benefits of community interaction and personal growth for the students. These efforts secondarily help with the growth and development of the Ethical Culture Movement.

Duties:

Evaluating the work of the SS with the support of the Ethical Education Committee, SID (Special Interests Director), and SSAA (Sunday School Administrative Assistant).

Developing and maintaining SS curriculum and lessons.

Preparing the annual budget with the ECC and SSAA.

Preparing new lessons when necessary.

Enlisting and training volunteers from the SS and the Society to assist and teach.

Assisting staff and volunteers with student behavior that disrupts the SS milieu.

Providing volunteers and staff with lessons and all necessary materials.

Communicating regularly with students, families, and the community to promote classes. projects, and events with the assistance of the SSAA.

Assuring that students, parents, and newcomers are greeted and welcomed at SS and related events.

Meeting regularly with the Leader, Ethical Society staff, EEC, Program Council, students, Nursery School board, parents , and others when indicated.

Communicating with SS directors of other Ethical Societies, share programming information, and participate with the AEU Religious Education Committee when appropriate. Potentially travel to participate to the AEU Religious education Conference.

Assisting in planning and coordinating

• Valentine Buddies (February)
• Thanksgiving Festival (November)
• Spring Festival (March)
• Youth Sunday (May)
• Coming of Age ceremony and luncheon (May)
• Recognition Breakfast (May)

Qualifications: understanding of Ethical Humanism, curriculum development, and excellent people skills, especially recruiting and working with volunteers.

The Ethical Society’s Sunday School core values are an essential part of the curricula. All lessons emphasize the 12 core values:

• Ethics is my religion.
• Every person is important and unique.
• Every person deserves to be treated fairly and kindly.
• I can learn from everyone.
• I am part of this earth; I cherish it and all the life upon it.
• I learn from the world around me by using senses, mind, and feelings.
• I am a member of the world community, which depends on the cooperation of all people for peace and justice.
• I can learn from the past to build for the future.
• I am free to question.
• I am free to choose what I believe.
• I accept responsibility for my choices and actions.
• I strive to live my values.

February 5 after platform will be a special and very different “First Sunday Lunch” at the Ethical Society. In fact, it will be a radical “unlunch” that will not provide any food; instead, it will provide an opportunity for reflection, compassion, service, and inspirational fellowship.

The Ethical Society of St. Louis has been asked by Kingdom House, our Ethical Humanist of the Year Awardee for 2009, to make February a special “Green Bag” food drive month for their food pantry for needy families. In this ongoing economic crisis, use of the pantry is up 60% in the last 4 years and donations are desperately needed. Ken Gottman from Kingdom House will be giving the 9:45 Forum on Hunger and Food Insecurity on February 5th as well.

Hunger is an invisible problem in America: we like to think that our great country can provide at least basic survival needs for all its people, but the truth is that many, particularly children, do not get enough to eat, and in addition suffer poor nutrition because of lack of access to healthy food.

How the Invisible Banquet will work: participants will line up as usual for a First Sunday Lunch, and a donation of $5 (or more or less as you are able) will be collected. In the kitchen, volunteers will hand out reusable Green Bags with information about the food drive. Then we will gather together in the Assembly Hall for a short inspirational program on the invisible issue of hunger.

The money collected at the Invisible Banquet will be used to buy food for the drive, and members are encouraged to fill their green bags throughout February to whatever extent you’re able—many people in our community would like a chance to help but don’t necessarily have an easy way to do so, so don’t be afraid to ask friends, family, neighbors, or coworkers to participate! If you need to make more room in your Green Bag, you can drop off food throughout the month in the hall outside the kitchen.

Our goal is 2,012 items for 2012! I know we can do this together. I thank you in advance for your support and your shared sacrifice to help the children and families in our community that go to bed each night quietly, invisibly hungry.

~ Kate Lovelady, Leader, Ethical Society of St. Louis

Platform: Is the Affordable Care Act Unconstitutional? by Greg Magarian

The Obama Administration’s signature legislative achievement, the Affordable Care Act, has sparked political controversy at every stage of its consideration. Now the Supreme Court is preparing to decide whether or not the Act violates the U.S. Constitution. In particular, legal challengers argue that the Act’s “individual mandate” – its requirement that all U.S. citizens purchase health care coverage from private insurance companies – encroaches on the powers that the Constitution reserves to the states. The challenge has divided the federal courts.

This talk will introduce the key constitutional concepts that frame the debate, evaluate their application to the health care controversy, and suggest how the Supreme Court may ultimately resolve the challenge.
11 a.m. Auditorium.

Platform Music: Kevin Lucas, marimba

Colloquy: A guided meditation and discussion on a topic that changes weekly.
9:45 a.m. Boardroom.

Forum: Hunger and food scarcity in our area and around the world by Ken Gottman, Director of Faith Community Relations for Kingdom House
9:45 a.m. Hanke Room.

Sunday School:
10 a.m. until noon

Ethical Mindfulness Meditation:
8 – 9:30 a.m. The Foyer.

“Spiritual Democracy,” a platform presented by Kate Lovelady, Leader of the St. Louis Ethical Society is now available on our podcast page.

Welcome back and/or begin your new year at the Ethical Society. Leader Kate Lovelady begins 2012 with well-needed but also well-founded positivity, exploring the unique mission of Ethical Humanism and highlighting reasons to be hopeful for our nation’s and humanity’s future.

This is the sort of book that makes you go looking for the rest of the author’s works. She’s intelligent, amusing, insightful, and thinks a good bit like me politically and socially. These are apparently magazine and newspaper articles, probably from the OpEd pages, from basically the second term of the Bush administration. The section titles make the point rather well:

“Chasms of Inequality,” which includes the Title article. The “They” means rich people. It is a plain old fact that the gap in incomes between rich and poor has grown alarmingly in the last decade or so; Ehrenreich puts a human face on that fact.

“Meanness on the Rise,” which is clearly related to the economic point of view of the first section, but includes a lot of attitude issues that are not always seen as economic.

“Strangling the Middle Class,” which goes a long way to explain how the yawning chasm between the upper crust and the lower got so big. Clue: it is not because the middle class is moving up.

“Hell Day at Work” offers a nausea-producing variety of ways workers are getting screwed in the modern jobs market.

“Declining Health” is a segment very close to my heart — or rather my liver. I came home from the hospital to video clips of people responding to a hypothetical question posed to Ron Paul about whether a young man in a coma should be allowed to die if he does not have health insurance. The audience shouts “yes” as Dr. Paul says, “No, but . . .”

“Getting Sex Straight.” A good sense of humor is obviously especially necessary in this department. The chapter entitled “Opportunities in Abstinence Training” had me wondering whether that was laughing I was doing or crying. I think it was both.

“False Gods” includes the intriguing title, “Is It Safe to Go Back to Church?” If I had not read this, I might not have known the danger in which my neighbors put themselves every Sunday morning.

Many thanks here to Bud Deraps, who trusted me enough to loan me his autographed copy of this book. Now I’m going looking for “Bait and Switch” and “Nickel and Dimed” and whatever else I can find by this fine author.

Statements in this review do not necessarily express the thoughts or opinions of the Ethical Society of St. Louis or its leadership.

Greetings. Yesterday I continued my series “Exploring Ethical Humanism” in our 9:45 Forum with a discussion on liberal religious attitudes toward authority, “salvation,” and human nature. Preparing for the forum I was reminded of the work of George Lakoff, who wrote Moral Politics and several other books in which he describes two competing frames in American politics: the Nurturing Parent frame and the Strict Father frame. In a nutshell, the Strict Father (SF) frame sees the world as a dangerous place and people as basically weak and untrustworthy. Therefore there is a strong need for authority, to teach discipline, a need to assume and prepare for the worst, and an emphasis on “tough love.” The main problem with society is breakdown of discipline and authority. The Nurturing Parent (NP) frame sees the world and people as basically good and trustworthy, but often needing a hand up to reach their potential. The main problem with society is a breakdown of compassion and mutual aid. Both SFs and NPs like “community” but see it differently: (SF)–community passes on and reinforces discipline and authority; (NP)–community is supportive environment for personal growth.

I find that Lakoff’s frames translate very closely to “liberal” vs “literal” religious outlooks:
Strict Father religious attitudes emphasize authority, see sin and evil as strong forces in the world, and find feminism, women’s reproductive freedom, and gay marriage dangerous because they undermine patriarchal authority, which they see as necessary to impose discipline; god is vengeful and concrete, and only by following what god demands, without question, can we be saved, in the next life; saving others means teaching them to be disciplined followers as well.
Nurturing Parent religious attitudes emphasize a democratic community of spiritual seekers and social action; god is the internalized good parent within (and possibly wholly metaphorical); people can save themselves and each other here and now. In Ethical Humanism, the goal is a community of ethical nurturers that learn to nurture others.

Lakoff emphasizes that no religion or person sees only through the SF or the NP frame all the time or in every circumstance. He also claims that an understanding of these frames will help a person understand and communicate with those of a different outlook. It doesn’t seem to me that that project has been going so well, but I don’t know to what extent it’s been tried.

Do these “Strict Father” and “Nurturing Parent” competing frames make sense to you as a way to understand different belief systems? I find them useful, even within humanism, which seems to be broad enough to have both SF and NP types in different ways.

Platform: Growing Together by Kate Lovelady, Leader

The theme of this year’s pledge campaign is Growing Together. Before attending our second annual pledge luncheon of fun and fellowship, come hear Kate’s thoughts on giving and growing, both personally and as a community. At this platform Kate will also be introducing a couple exciting new ethical action projects, both short and long term, underlining the great things we can accomplish together
11 a.m. Auditorium.

Platform Music: Angela Bell, Bob Heck and Jonathan Hill

Colloquy: A guided meditation and discussion on a topic that changes weekly.
9:45 a.m. Boardroom.

Forum: The Poverty of Progress by Jonathan Hill
9:45 a.m. Hanke Room.

Sunday School:
10 a.m. until noon

Ethical Mindfulness Meditation:
8 – 9:30 a.m. The Foyer.

George Bernard Shaw wrote it, and some very brilliant BBC actors performed it. One such is my beloved Patrick Stewart, who plays Anthony Anderson, the Presbyterian minister in a small town during the American revolution. The self-proclaimed Devil’s Disciple is young Dick Dudgeon (Mike Gwilym), who returned home for the reading of his father’s will and faced the scorn of his ostentatiously pious mother.

The British have just hanged his uncle for a rebel, and his mother has taken in her brother-in-law’s “natural child,” whom she treats very like a slave. His father died in an inn away from home, and the minister was there when he changed his will to leave most of his estate to Richard, who has been away from home being a ne’er do well and a smuggler.

Minister Anderson is polite to Dick, even when his own family is not. He invites him to his house, even though his wife Judith (Susan Woolridge) strongly disapproves of him. They are about to have tea when the minister is called away to Dick’s mother’s bedside, but Dick was not called for and does not want to go along. So Rev. Anderson asks his wife to serve Dick his tea and keep him there until he returns.

Dick was just commenting on the fact that a stranger who walked in would take them for husband and wife when a stranger does indeed walk in: a British soldier who has been ordered to arrest Rev. Anderson. The soldier assumes Dick is the minister, and he allows the mistaken identity in the hopes that the minister will escape.

I don’t think I’ve told you too much: this is all in the first 10 or 15 minutes. What happens from that point gradually reveals the true character of Richard Dudgeon, the Devil’s Disciple, and also of Judith Anderson and, finally, of Anthony Anderson as well.

One odd note: the minute the General arrived and was called Burgoyne, I knew what would happen. There is a famous quilt pattern called “Burgoyne Surrounded,” so it was all quite obvious as to the place in history. The rest is an often witty and generally quite entertaining story in the best tradition of Shaw.

Note: The Netflix sleeve says 1990; the description on Amazon says 2006. I don’t know who to believe, except perhaps to gauge by the apparent age of Patrick Stewart. It’s either 1990 with aging make-up, or it’s his natural face in 2006.

Statements in this review do not necessarily express the thoughts or opinions of the Ethical Society of St. Louis or its leadership.

This past weekend I did not give a platform address, but I was privileged to preside at the memorial of a gentle, intelligent man who had been a member for over a decade. At this memorial I shared one of my favorite memorial readings, which I adapted from Algernon Black’s wonderful book Without Burnt Offerings: Ceremonies of Humanism. (Black was a Leader at the New York Society for Ethical Culture.) I share it again here for the comfort and use of others. Despite the dated language I find it very moving, and I hope that I’m considered worthy of it at my memorial:

We must ask in all honesty, “How do people live after they die?” The many different religions have offered answers to this question. But apart from all the differences of belief, there is one reality that we all share.

When a person lives with us in a family or works with us day by day through the years, something happens to us that would not have happened if he had not lived or if we had not known him. His unique personality lives in the way he touches our lives. Because of his intelligence and power to think, we are more alert and more able to deal with our problems. Because he works productively, we understand better what it means to be productive. Because of his sense of humor, his joy of life, his laughter, we are better able to see things in perspective and to laugh and enjoy life. And because he is kind and compassionate, generous and loving, we see and value these qualities in life. He helps us to grow.

And the wonderful fact is that when he dies, we don’t lose what he gave us, what he brought forth in us. We are better people because he lived. The world is a better place because he lived. He gave us a great gift: his life, his influence, and his presence. We will treasure his image in our conscience and in our consciousness. In darkness, we will always see more clearly because he lived. And when we remember him, it will be as if he were present, and we will think more clearly and show more integrity and know more of what it means to love.

Are there readings, quotes, poems, or pieces of music that you find particularly apt for humanist memorials? If so, please feel free to leave a comment or send them to me, as I’m always looking for new meaningful material to share.

Platform: German Freethought Communities in Missouri by Dorris Keeven-Franke

With the age of Enlightenment, came reason, spreading across Europe, reaching Germany. With the Napoleonic wars had come oppression, famine, chaos; and when the military campaigns ended, Germans were faced with an even more horrific struggle – for freedom. The Universities were filled with young men engulfed in that battle, where they learned Latin by daylight, yet studied democracy secretly by lamplight. A dream emerged, born of the oppression, fueled by repression, for a place where all Germans could raise families, educate their children, and live a life free from fear. When rationalism arrived in the far western states of North America, those ideals took shape in talks in crude cabins and traveled the countryside on broadsheets and books – and freethought was born on the Missouri frontier.
11 a.m. Auditorium.

Platform Music: Community and Chorus with Marcia Hansen

Colloquy: A guided meditation and discussion on a topic that changes weekly.
9:45 a.m. Boardroom.

Forum: Exploring Ethical Humanism: Liberal Religion. What is liberal religion and how does religious humanism fits into its ongoing development? by Kate Lovelady, Leader
9:45 a.m. Hanke Room.

Sunday School:
10 a.m. until noon

Ethical Mindfulness Meditation:
8 – 9:30 a.m. The Foyer.

The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution, a recent book by Richard Dawkins, is a readable review of the scientific evidence for Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection. Apparently, Dawkins realized that his previous several books about biology and religion assumed that the reader understood and accepted the evidence for evolution, so he decided that he needed a book to lay out the evidence. Dawkins covers a lot of ground in his discussion, weaving discoveries in paleontology, embryology, anatomy, genetics, artificial breeding and geography together to demonstrate the depth and breadth of the evidence that leads to a nearly inescapable conclusion: natural selection acting on isolated populations inevitably leads to biological diversity.

After explaining how frustrating it is to defend Evolution from those who deny it (a frustration he says is akin to a historian dealing with someone who who denies the existence of the Roman Empire), he starts by showing how powerfully artificial selection modifies pets, plants, and livestock for our human purposes. From there, he shows that the same techniques that turned ancient cabbage into both cauliflower and kohlrabi are used in nature for species to adapt to the world around them. When given enough time (he explains radiometric and other dating techniques), genetic isolation (whether geographic or by humans keeping dog breeds pure), and an environment that prefers some traits over others, speciation is inevitable.

Other chapters cover hominid evolution, the fallacy of looking for a specific “missing link”, embryological development, vestigial traits that show our history as descending from fish, and molecular genetic proof of the shape of the tree of life, amongst other relevant topics.

Unlike Dawkins’s previous book, this book is focused on science, not religion. However, Dawkins seemingly can’t help himself from taking a few shots at religious ideas like creationism and Intelligent Design that some promote in lieu of scientifically-backed evidence. I think these asides are unfortunate, not because they are condescending (as some find them) or unamusing (they can be hilarious, as in his encounter with someone who refuses to go to a museum to see the evidence), but because it’s sad that a conversation about scientific inquiry has been tainted by religious interference. If this were a book on plate tectonics, defense against religious recalcitrance would be unnecessary. I hope someday biology can get to that level of discussion.

Overall, this is an entertaining and educational book. Dawkins covers a lot of ground and gives a lot of good background for how the evidence for Darwinian evolution is broad and deep. While he covers a lot of information, he stays at a very readable level, leaving the scientific rigor available in the end notes and bibliography. He saves the footnotes for amusing anecdotes and tales of animal and human behavior that demonstrate his points.

Note: This review is based on a 9:45 Forum presentation given on March 14, 2010. Here is the presentation that was given: “The Greatest Show on Earth” Forum Presentation

Statements in this review do not necessarily express the thoughts or opinions of the Ethical Society of St. Louis or its leadership.

Join the fun at our “Once Upon A Time” 10th Annual Trivia Night this February 11, 2012.

Bring in your best noggins!  Newcomers, members, friends, friends of friends, & all trivia buffs welcome. If you haven’t been to the Ethical Society before, this is a great event to come check out.

$20.00 per person, 8-person tables. $1.00 Mulligans (up to 8.) Proceeds to benefit the Ethical Society.

Doors open at 6:15 p.m. and questions begin at 7:00 p.m.

R.S.V.P.  314-991-0955.  Tickets sales start Jan. 15.

Bring your own food & drinks.

*Prizes for best costume, table decoration, enthusiasm, and more.

Childcare available with the Ethical Society’s Youth Group.  $10 per child/$12 per family for the night.  Kids can come in their p.j.’s if they want to.  We also ask that parents provide some snacks for their children to share that evening.  Games, activities, and movies are planned. Please R.S.V.P. with kids’ names and ages by Feb. 8.

Greetings and Happy (Belated) New Year!

Here are some excerpts from last Sunday’s platform. As always the whole talk will be posted to our podcast page in the near future, with notice on the blog when it’s ready.

During my sabbatical I thought and read a lot about the meaning of life. If indeed we’re here because of an unguided process of evolution, which all the evidence seems to support, then meaning and purpose is not something that’s handed to us. Biologically, our only purpose is to survive to make more of us and make sure those new people survive. Unfortunately, our still-evolving brains don’t automatically realize that things we can’t see and touch, like long-term climate change, can be a grave threat to our future.

But in addition to mere survival and procreation, what should we be doing with our relatively brief lives? . . . . I like to read about different places and times to see how they lived and what they thought was important and what we might learn from them.

. . . Classical Greece was revolutionary for being one of the first major civilizations to focus on the natural world, on the reality that humans experience through our senses, as the most important thing in life, rather than the invisible world of supernatural powers. Their religious myths permeated their culture, but educated Greeks in particular did not take the myths literally; they understood them as literary stories, inspirations for art and cultural rituals, and they used them and learned from them as reason or art suggested.

. . . The Greeks’ strong, this-worldly focus enabled them to overthrow the authoritarian power of priests and create the first flourishing democracy. . . . The development of less supernaturalism and more naturalism was a necessary step for democratic progress, an important historical lesson, because a focus on naturalism over supernaturalism is necessary to continue democratic progress. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that today, those who want to base laws on their personal religious views, in other countries and in this one, also seek to reverse hard-won democratic rights, particularly the rights of minorities, women, and LGBT citizens. I’ve sometimes wondered why that is, because it’s possible to interpret religious stories in lots of ways, and I think it’s because once you decide that this life is not as important as a possible next life, you’re less concerned with people’s happiness in this life.

. . .
Classical Greece was revolutionary for its time, and caused a second revolution in the Enlightenment, when its ideas were revived, because it rejected the dominant focus on another world and a better afterlife, and valued instead this world and this life. But the Greek ideal was not a singular focus on the material but rather a balance of material and immaterial—immaterial in the sense of ideas, knowledge, the arts.
Today in America at least, we are tyrannized by an overwhelming focus on the material, on stuff and money and economic survival and growth for the sake of growth. This all-consuming focus on the material has brought us some good things, but it has imperiled the environment we rely on, and many, many people feel that the pendulum has swung too far, increasingly bringing more inequality and anxiety. I think it’s because so many people feel that the material world is failing them that many are seeking to swing the pendulum back to supernaturalism, to magical thinking, to a rejection of reason and even a rejection of compassion for human frailty and the ideal of caring for each other, rather than everyone always being in competition.

I agree with the Greeks that we need a balance between the material and the immaterial, that we need to offer Americans an alternative to the poles of materialism and supernaturalism.

I think of Ethical Humanism as a form of spiritual democracy because I see it as the development of the Greek ideal of religion—admittedly human-made to serve human needs and the highest and best of human values. And constantly tested and developed with growing knowledge and participation.

There are of course tons of books about ancient Greece. I couple older ones I’d like to remind people of are Edith Hamilton’s classic, The Greek Way to Western Civilization, and the historical novels by Mary Renault, particularly The Praise Singer. It was fun to rediscover these texts. I’m looking for more good historical novels set in this time period if anyone has any recommendations.

Last but not least, my vote for inspirational quote for 2012:

From Colin Beavan’s No Impact Man: “We need to pick up a new model of engaged citizenship and realize that the way we live affects everyone around us. We need to develop new ways to take up and assert our responsibility. We need to take ‘participatory democracy’ to the next level, where we don’t just vote for the leaders who will bring us the culture we want, but where we take the responsibility for making the culture ourselves. / And what we get in return is the feeling of a life fully lived, in a world where we are not victims of the system but leaders of it. Where we choose instead of inherit. Where we stride purposefully instead of sleepwalk. Where we are truly masters of our destiny. . . . When it comes to saving the world, the real question is not whether I can make a difference. The real question is whether I am willing to try. Am I willing to try?”

Perhaps what Beavan describes isn’t a new model. Maybe it’s an old model that we need to find new ways to return to. For some, participatory democracy might mean occupying something, for others it might mean choosing to be a fairer employer or more sustainable business than mere supply and demand would dictate. For others it might mean making a lot of phone calls and knocking on a lot of doors this election year. For others it might mean teaching the next generation how to be participants and leaders instead of victims or sleepwalkers.

What do you think–Can a civilization from 2500 years ago have anything to teach us today? And what are your votes for inspirational quotes to start off this election year?

Platform: Slaves, Servants and Soldiers by Louis Gerteis, Ph.D.

Uneven Paths to Freedom in the Border States, 1861-1865
By exempting the Border States from the terms of the Emancipation Proclamation, President Lincoln continued to extend to them some of the autonomy they had enjoyed during the first years of the war. Civil governments continued to function in Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri, and in the new state of West Virginia, but Lincoln also authorized the imposition of martial law in these states. Lincoln rejected repeated pleas to resolve the tensions in the Border States, either by placing them entirely under federal military control or by deferring to the authority of their civil governments.

Lincoln’s middle course helped to insure that the Civil War in the Border States earned its name. Conflict in these states raged at the most intimate levels of civil society.
11 a.m. Auditorium.

Platform Music: Songs from the Civil War

Colloquy: A guided meditation and discussion on a topic that changes weekly.
9:45 a.m. Boardroom.

Forum: Tibet: Flora, Fungi and Beautiful People by Maxine Stone
9:45 a.m. Hanke Room.

Sunday School:
10 a.m. until noon

Ethical Mindfulness Meditation:
8 – 9:30 a.m. The Foyer.

This is a very solid, well-researched, scholarly book. But don’t let that put you off. You may just sort of skim the highlights of the first six chapters, getting the points and letting your eyes skip over all the references to research and to philosophers and all that. Then study the last two chapters very carefully, so as to be ready for the “Epilogue: What Can I Do?” The extensive notes and references at the back of the book are also just for scholars.

If you are a professor of psychology, philosophy, ethics, political science, sociology, maybe anthropology, I recommend you assign this book to your class.

Corning very carefully works out his definitions, makes a case for a rather precise definition of fair society, and then makes specific recommendations on how to achieve a fair society, or at least to make the society we have far more fair than it currently is. He acknowledges the complexity of the reforms needed, spends a good bit of time on the failed economic theories of the past, and argues for what may seem like a common sense, middle of the road approach. Unfortunately, such good sense is no longer the least bit common.

Not only do I recommend this book, but I will probably loan it to Kate Lovelady, my friend who is the leader of the Ethical Society. She’s just the sort of person who will know how to use the material best.

The only reason I give it four stars instead of five is that I fear it is a bit too scholarly — or perhaps I should say academic — for some readers who would benefit greatly from it. Perhaps someone will produce a documentary of the highlights that can be distributed more widely.

Statements in this review do not necessarily express the thoughts or opinions of the Ethical Society of St. Louis or its leadership.