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Ethical Culture Leaders attend the second Humanist Collaboratory!

02 May 2019
Emily
News

By Amanda Poppei, Senior Leader, Washington Ethical Society

In March I spent several days hosting the Humanist Clergy & Organizer Collaboratory, the second iteration of an international gathering of humanists that I co-founded in 2017. For our first Collaboratory, we focused on bringing together Ethical Culture Leaders, Unitarian Universalist ministers, and humanistic rabbis, with the hope of building relationships among those groups. And it worked!

This time around we wanted to expand the guest list, focusing especially on the relationships between congregationally based, or religious, humanism (like Ethical Societies) and secular humanism (like American Humanist Association chapters, Camp Quest, and other secular groups). We also sought to amplify the voices of people of color, queer folx, and women—those who haven’t historically been centered within institutional humanist leadership. We hoped to have conversations about what we think humanism is, who “owns” humanism, how we honor humanism’s history, and what we imagine for humanism’s future. And…it worked!

But first, who is this “we” I’m talking about? The organizing team included Unitarian Universalist minister Patrice Curtis and ministerial candidate Leika Lewis Cornwell; Ethical Culture Leader Mike Franch and Leader-in-Training Christian Hayden; and secular organizers Diane Burkholder and Luciano Gonzalez. I said several times during the planning that if the whole Collaboratory itself was a bust, it would still be worth it for the time I got to spend learning from and working with these amazing people. Together, we crafted an agenda that focused on questions and connections, and was flexible enough to change entirely if we felt the group needed something different—a flexibility we implemented on Tuesday when we shifted to a more focused concentration on relationship building and began to imagine what “products” we hoped to create coming out of the Collaboratory.

One of those products was a conversation with WES members on Tuesday evening, when about ten folks joined us to hear about our work together and get a test-run of our ideas. We heard excitement about the idea of a new Humanist Manifesto, one that decolonizes humanism—while not forgetting our history and the thinkers in the western tradition that have led to our modern understanding of humanism. Some of the Collaborators have excitement and energy around expanding our knowledge of indigenous and global worldviews that feel connected to humanism, and others are planning a series of gatherings that focus on humanist art.

Ethical Culture, which represented almost half of the attendees, should benefit from the ideas shared and the relationships created. If there was ever a time for our brand of relational humanism to be shared with a world were relationships are breaking a part, it is now. The wealth of new energy and perspectives that came from humanists outside of Ethical Culture should serve us well as we welcome a new generation of Leaders into our movement.

I feel sure that the relationships built between secular and congregational humanists will bear fruit, as well—I can’t wait to connect more with folks from Washington Area Secular Humanists, whose leadership attended! And we know a few next steps are for sure: TheHumanist.com featured an article on the Collaboratory, several of us will present at the UU General Assembly in Spokane, WA, and some of our collaborators will share during the American Ethical Union Assembly in Tampa, FL. Finally, the next Collaboratory is already in the planning stages, and will be held in Minneapolis, MN! It gives me great satisfaction to know that something that I started—along with Rev. David Breeden and Rabbi Jeff Fallick—will continue to serve the humanist community in the future, bringing in new leadership and new ideas each year.

Following the Collaboratory, the National Leaders Council met for discussion, training, and planning.
Standing: Jone Johnson Lewis, Richard Koral, Carolyn Tabak, Joy McConnell, Randy Best, Bart Worden, Je Hooper, Hugh Taft-Morales
Sitting: Christian Hayden, Kate Lovelady, Sarah Tielemans, Amada Poppei, Anne Klaeysen, and James Frey Croft
Photo credit: Christian Hayden

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The American Ethical Union calls for nontheist participation in National Inaugural Interfaith Service.On Thursday January 21st, the Washington National Cathedral will host a virtual presidential inaugural interfaith service to mark the inauguration of Joe Biden as president. While presented as an opportunity to bring the whole nation together, and while part of the “America United” inaugural activities, one large community will not be represented at all: atheists, agnostics, humanists, and the nonreligious. Millions of Americans today make meaning and express their personal and civic values without reference to a god or traditional religious beliefs. These Americans deserve a voice, and should be included in formal interfaith programming like the Inaugural Service. Read our full statement here: aeu.org/resource/aeu-calls-for-nontheist-participation-in-national-inaugural-interfaith-service/ ... See MoreSee Less

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Today, as the nation continues to recover from an attempted white supremacist insurrection at our capitol, we are reflecting upon this quote from the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. #MLK #MLKDay #MLK2021 #king #martinlutherkingjr #today #EthicalCulture #ethics #2021 ... See MoreSee Less

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AEU Statement Regarding the Events of January 6thYesterday, we watched in shock and horror as a violent mob attacked the US Capitol, forcing their way inside and occupying areas of the building for hours in an attempt to disrupt the certification of electoral votes submitted by the states. By the end of the day, 4 people were dead, 52 members of the seditious mob were arrested, and 14 police officers were injured. It took the assistance of many additional federal law enforcement personnel and the National Guard to remove the attackers from the Capitol and clear the way for the Joint Congress to resume its work.Fortunately, the Joint Congress was resolute and refused to let the interruption derail our democracy, working through the night to certify the electoral vote counts for all of the states. However, this episode was an attack on democracy itself, instigated by a sitting president whose actions have severely undermined respect for and trust in the very system that put him in office. Mr. Trump has shown only contempt for the democratic process and is a danger to our country. People who are in a position to remove Mr. Trump from office ought to proceed in haste as this president has repeatedly shown readiness to incite violence and mayhem, and also continues to demonstrate an obsession with the electoral results to the seeming exclusion of other national concerns. Our democratic system of government must be protected from his influence.As Ethical Humanists, we are called upon to repudiate the anti-democratic tendencies that have gained an unwelcome foothold in public life. Our country will need us to elicit the best from one another and ourselves in the months and years to come.#Jan6 #ethicalhumanism ow.ly/uxes50D2Gzn ... See MoreSee Less

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Share your voice! The AEU is seeking volunteers to contribute to our World Human Rights Day Project. Learn more here: ow.ly/YGDC50CYYPL ... See MoreSee Less

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The American Ethical Union calls for nontheist par The American Ethical Union calls for nontheist participation in National Inaugural Interfaith Service.

On Thursday January 21st, the Washington National Cathedral will host a virtual presidential inaugural interfaith service to mark the inauguration of Joe Biden as president. While presented as an opportunity to bring the whole nation together, and while part of the “America United” inaugural activities, one large community will not be represented at all: atheists, agnostics, humanists, and the nonreligious. 

Millions of Americans today make meaning and express their personal and civic values without reference to a god or traditional religious beliefs. These Americans deserve a voice, and should be included in formal interfaith programming like the Inaugural Service.
Today, as the nation continues to recover from an Today, as the nation continues to recover from an attempted white supremacist insurrection at our capitol, we are reflecting upon this quote from the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. 

#MLK #MLKDay #MLK2021 #King #MartinLutherKingJr #Today #EthicalCulture #Ethics #2021
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