We’re pleased to announce that Edward L. Ericson will receive the Felix Adler Lifetime Achievement Award at the 104th American Ethical Union Assembly. This award officially recognizes our members who have stimulated the growth of the Ethical Culture Movement during their many years of active participation in the AEU and its member Societies.

Ericson led the Washington Ethical Society from 1959–1971 and the New York Society for Ethical Culture from 1971–1984. During his time in Washington, DC, Ericson lobbied to Congress and the Selective Service System to, among other things, get the SSS to issue a new CO application form that eliminated built-in discrimination against non-theists. He was also very active supporting conscientious objectors to the Vietnam War. In 1981 he started the Center for Moral Democracy, which shortly became Americans for Religious Liberty.

Ericson is the author of several books including American Freedom and the Radical Right (1982) and The Humanist Way (1988). The Humanist Way describes the beliefs and activities of Ethical Humanist Societies and is still widely used by many Ethical Societies as an excellent introduction to Ethical Humanism. For more on Ericson, read Bart Worden’s article in TheHumanist.com.

The award ceremony will take place Saturday, June 22, during the National Ethical Service luncheon—an event hosted by our United Nations NGO—at our Assembly in Tampa. For details and registration for the Assembly, click here.

Previous recipients of the Felix Adler Lifetime Achievement Award include:

• 2011 Dr. Howard B. Radest, for over seven decades of active involvement in the Ethical Culture Movement, during which time he served as a Leader, educator, and author
• 2010 Rose L. Walker, for her extraordinary volunteerism and her intrepid spirit in promoting a long-standing and close mutual relationship between the American Ethical Union and the United Nations.