Home | Find An Ethical Society | Become A Member | Contact | Donate
facebook
twitter
youtube

BtnDonate

  • Who We Are
    • Mission & Vision
    • Ethical Humanism
    • History
    • Member Societies
    • Meet Our Leaders
    • Staff, Board & Committees
  • What We Do
    • Connections Forum & Calendar
    • Sunday Platform Talks
    • Ethical Action
      • Ethical Action News
    • Ethical Education
    • Conferences
      • AEU 105th Assembly on Zoom
    • Awards
  • Ceremonies
    • Seasonal Festivals
    • Weddings
    • Baby Namings
    • Coming of Age
    • Memorials
  • Our Community
    • Become an Individual Member of the AEU
    • Find an Ethical Society
    • Ethical Community
    • Children’s Programming
    • Youth of Ethical Societies (YES)
    • Future of Ethical Societies (FES)
    • National Ethical Service
    • Allied Organizations
  • Events & News
    • Events
    • News
    • Bart’s Blog
    • In the Media – AEU
    • In the Media – Societies
    • Press Kit
    • Ethical Action News
  • Resources
    • Articles
    • Books
    • Ethical Action Reports
    • Ethical Culture Journal
    • Archived Newsletters
    • Platform Talks
    • Resolutions
    • Statements
  • Contact
    • Support the AEU

Blog Post

off

Decolonizing Ethical Humanism

11 Nov 2019
Emily
News
On Saturday, November 9, 2020, the emerging Leaders of the Ethical Culture Movement led an experiential workshop called “Uproot and Reseed: Decolonizing Ethical Humanism” at the Riverdale-Yonkers Society for Ethical Culture. Thirty-five passionate participants gathered to discuss how we could develop practices that are inclusive, egalitarian, and healing in our communities. In his Philadelphia Ethical Society Leader’s Message, Hugh Taft-Morales shared his experience:

…When Felix Adler gave the talk titled “The Judaism of the Future,” he saw a world running headlong into oblivion. In 1876, the United States had not healed from a brutal Civil War, and yet brutality continued in the form of oppressive working conditions, urban poverty, and the emergence of Jim Crow. The young Adler was alarmed that the golden rule was being eclipsed by an intoxicating materialism that numbed half of our populace to the suffering of the other half.

Things don’t feel so different today. While many people suffer from drought, war, and incarceration in jails and cages, others enjoy unprecedented wealth. Add to that the specter of devastating climate change, and no wonder young people are encouraging revolutionary change. Of course, “young” is relative. The Decolonizing workshop leaders—Sarah Tielemans, Christian Hayden, Jé Hooper,storäe michele, and Anthony Cruz (pictured below)—for example, are almost a decade older than Adler was when he boldly launched Ethical Culture. They bless our Movement with a wealth of academic training, life experience, and embodied compassion. Now it’s up to us to use their gifts wisely.
From the workshop I took away that first, it became clearer to me that we need to approach Ethical Culture in a more embodied fashion. When we gather, let’s sing more, move more, and feel more in our chest and in our gut. These elements evident in ancient spiritual practices need to find a home in Ethical Culture. As more and more folks drift away from theism, many still want the emotional and deeply interpersonal experiences they got in traditional religion. We can offer more holistic experiences without sacrificing our commitment to reason.

Second, let’s continue to acknowledge that the land on which Ethical Societies stand is stolen land. This should not be done merely as a form of penance that abstractly processes guilt without demanding a real transferring of sovereignty, land, and power back to indigenous people. There is real work we need to do to heal the wounds of colonialization.

Third, we must continually reexamine our vocabulary, choosing words that invite more than repel, that embrace more than exclude, that open up more than close off. I know I am guilty of over-reliance of the vocabulary of traditional western philosophy, a vocabulary that claims for itself universal application but excludes many other forms of wisdom.

…I’ll leave you with a quote from the workshop by Audre Lorde: “Any future vision which can encompass all of us, by definition, must be complex and expanding, not easy to achieve.”

Sign up for emails from AEU

Select list(s) to subscribe to


By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: American Ethical Union, 2 West 64th Street, New York, NY, 10023, https://www.aeu.org. You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact

Recent Posts

  • Week of 2/8/21
  • Seeking Program and Communications Coordinator
  • Week of 9/14/2020

Upcoming Events

Youth of Ethical Societies 2021 Conference

05 Mar 2021 | 07:00 pm
Jamie Raskin

All Society Platform Featuring Congressman Jamie Raskin

28 Mar 2021 | 11:00 am

Facebook Feed

American Ethical Union
American Ethical Union
In honor of Women's History Month, the AEU highlights the work of Sandra Faber!An astronomer at the University of California-Santa Cruz, Sandra Faber has made innumerable contributions to our understanding of the beginnings of our universe, the formation of galaxies, and the origins of our planet. In 2013, President Obama recognized her notable achievements with the National Medal of Science. She is also a publicly declared atheist who finds meaning not in religious doctrine or deities but in the beauty of the natural laws of science. In an interview with PBS, Faber stated that there are only two possible explanations for the origin of the universe: “One is that there is a God and that God made it that way. The only other approach…is to argue that there really is an infinite, or a very big, ensemble of universes out there and we are in one.” In the interview Faber asserted her preference for the latter materialistic explanation rather than theistic faith in a creator, adding, “I take comfort in the fact that it is a beautiful universe, and we belong here and that we fit. This is our home.”#WomensHistoryMonth #WHM #WomenInSTEM #WomenHumanists #WomensHistoryMonth2021 ... See MoreSee Less

17  ·  

Photo

View on Facebook
· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

American Ethical Union
American Ethical Union
On February 25 a group of U.S. House Democrats including Bobby Scott (D-Va.), Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pa.), and Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), reintroduced the Do No Harm Act, a bill to ensure that religious freedom is not used as a justification for discriminating against LGBTQ people, religious minorities, and others. ... See MoreSee Less

Religious Groups Agree: Pass The Do No Harm Act

www.au.org

The Do No Harm Act will return the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to its original purpose of protecting the free exercise of religion, especially for religious minorities, while making it clear that the legislation should never be used to exempt anyone from laws that protect other people’s basi...

2  ·  

View on Facebook
· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

American Ethical Union
American Ethical Union
Join the AEU this weekend March 5-7 for our Youth of Ethical Societies Annual Conference! There is still time to sign up here:docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf1L-cW5TbI5soDatqx3tRA56L9yvqJc6ZAbj-Xz2yOlnbiAQ/viewform ... See MoreSee Less

YES Conference 2021

docs.google.com

Join the AEU for this year's YES National Conference! On the weekend of March 5, we will gather online to share our thoughts on this year's topic: America's Public Education System

2  ·  

View on Facebook
· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

American Ethical Union
American Ethical Union
On this final day of Black History Month, we honor Lorraine Hansberry (1930-1965), a Black playwright and journalist.Hansberry’s partly autobiographical play “A Raisin in the Sun,” shocked Broadway audiences when a Black character declared, “God is just one idea I don’t accept. ... It’s just that I get so tired of him getting credit for all the things the human race achieves through its own stubborn effort. There simply is no God! There is only man, and it’s he who makes miracles!” She worked with W.E.B. DuBois and Paul Robeson on an African-American progressive newspaper, until her life was tragically cut short at age 34 by cancer.#BlackHistory #BlackHistoryMonth #BHM #BlackNonBelievers #BlackHumanism ... See MoreSee Less

5  ·  

Photo

View on Facebook
· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

Twitter Feed

Tweets by @EthicalUnion

Instagram Feed

ethicalunion

In honor of Women's History Month, the AEU highlig In honor of Women's History Month, the AEU highlights the work of Sandra Faber!
An astronomer at the University of California-Santa Cruz, Sandra Faber has made innumerable contributions to our understanding of the beginnings of our universe, the formation of galaxies, and the origins of our planet. In 2013, President Obama recognized her notable achievements with the National Medal of Science. She is also a publicly declared atheist who finds meaning not in religious doctrine or deities but in the beauty of the natural laws of science. 
In an interview with PBS, Faber stated that there are only two possible explanations for the origin of the universe: “One is that there is a God and that God made it that way. The only other approach…is to argue that there really is an infinite, or a very big, ensemble of universes out there and we are in one.” In the interview Faber asserted her preference for the latter materialistic explanation rather than theistic faith in a creator, adding, “I take comfort in the fact that it is a beautiful universe, and we belong here and that we fit. This is our home.”

#WomensHistoryMonth #WHM #WomenInSTEM #WomenHumanists #WomensHistoryMonth2021
On this final day of Black History Month, we honor On this final day of Black History Month, we honor Lorraine Hansberry (1930-1965), a Black playwright and journalist.

Hansberry’s partly autobiographical play “A Raisin in the Sun,” shocked Broadway audiences when a Black character declared, “God is just one idea I don’t accept. ... It’s just that I get so tired of him getting credit for all the things the human race achieves through its own stubborn effort. There simply is no God! There is only man, and it’s he who makes miracles!” She worked with W.E.B. DuBois and Paul Robeson on an African-American progressive newspaper, until her life was tragically cut short at age 34 by cancer.

#BlackHistory #BlackHistoryMonth #BHM #BlackNonBelievers #BlackHumanism
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Sign up for emails from AEU

Select list(s) to subscribe to


By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: American Ethical Union, 2 West 64th Street, New York, NY, 10023, https://www.aeu.org. You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact

BtnDonate

American Ethical Union | 2 West 64th Street, New York, NY 10023 | Phone: (212) 873-6500 | office@aeu.org