Ethical Culture Offers Perspective During this Thanksgiving Season

The Sunday platform this week at the Ethical Culture Society offered a sobering perspective as we head into the upcoming Thanksgiving season. As a way of helping the Sunday School children understand the realities of world hunger, adults too, were privy to the reminder that we are very lucky indeed. I can't imagine the horror I would feel if I had to watch helplessly as my children starve. Amoung the many stories of struggles and resilliance we heard, those were the ones that stuck in my mind.

This week I will say a quiet thanks to the bounty in our community but I will also be mindful of the continued work that needs to be done for those who are not so lucky.

Man is the Measure of all Things

This week I attended the 'Introduction to Humanism and Ethical Culture' course conducted by Dr. Joseph Chuman at the Ethical Culture Society in Teaneck.

I was reminded of a course I took many years ago in college, 'Old Testament Literature.' I remember then, the amazement I experienced when I became aware of the pervasiveness of Judeo-Christian themes in our modern lives. I felt the same shock when I started to understand better the history of Humanism and it's impact on our modern organizations both in human thought, spirit and institutions through the ages.

When the ancient Greeks first came to the task of designing an educational program with the goal of enhancing the humanity in the educated individual, a massive shift in philosophy was taking place. The focus was no longer on the deities but on man, for the good of men, by making the most of his mind and unleashing his creativity.

However, it was also made clear that the humanities were not designed to deny the existence of god, only to shift the thinking of he/she/it from the foreground to the background. Since my views on god are currently ambivalent, this is a welcome insight. I don't have to decide. In humanism, "man is the measure of all things;" a statement by an ancient Greek philosopher and shared nicely in both Greek and English by Dr. Chuman.

I'm looking forward to part II of this course which will focus on Ethical Culture, it's birth and it's expression of humanistic ideals.

Austin Dacey: Pyschology Today

Austin Dacey, who addressed the Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County on March 8, 2009, now has a blog on Psychology Today. His first blog entry is here.

The Right to Blaspheme

The following ECS/Bergen Platform address was delivered on Sunday, November 8, 2009, by Matt Cherry (introduced by Ken Karp):

Matt Cherry: The Right to Blaspheme from Ethical Culture Society Bergen on Vimeo.

Why does an atheist work at the UN to defend the human right to freedom of religion or belief and does this right protect humanists and atheists? Cherry will also highlight IHEU's current campaign against efforts to have the UN outlaw "defamation of religion" which would amount to a global blasphemy law.

Matt Cherry is IHEU International Representative and leads the IHEU delegation to the United Nations headquarters in New York. He has served two terms as president of the UN NGO Committee on Freedom of Religion or Belief, where he is now vice president. Over the past two decades Matt Cherry has played a leading role in humanist groups in Britain, the Netherlands, and the USA, including five years as executive director of the Council for Secular Humanism and eight years as executive director of the Institute for Humanist Studies. He has co-authored books on secular parenting and humanism in business.

Idealism, Pragmatism and Politics

The following ECS/Bergen Platform address was delivered on Sunday, November 1, 2009, by Dr. Joseph Chuman (introduced by Ed Gross):

Idealism, Pragmatism and Politics from Ethical Culture Society Bergen on Vimeo.

President Obama is a pragmatist “in the colloquial meaning of the word,” says Dr. Chuman. “There are certainly benefits to being a pragmatist. But as a product of a more idealistic age, I can’t help but wonder whether something is lost as well.” Joe will explore these issues further in his Platform address.

Dr. Joseph Chuman, Leader of the Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County.

Help for that Elevator Speech

One of the biggest challenges I often have is explaining to others what my 'religion' is. Even though I personally don't think of Humanism as a religion per se, many others do and anyway, it is an accurate reflection of my world view when it comes to the question 'what do you believe?"

As Dr. Chuman the leader of ECS of BC often states, it's not that we are non-believers, Humanists have many beliefs and values. It is however, not as well immediately understood as saying 'I am Jewish' or 'I am a Christian.' Dale McGowen in the recent workshop Parenting Beyond Belief at the Ethical Culture Society suggested as a way of interfacing with a religious world one should have and practice an 'elevator speech.' An 'elevator speech' is a quick an efficient way of representing ourself so as not to be left stumbling for the explanation.

In November I'll be participating in a two night Adult Education program, "Introduction to Humanism and Ethical Culture." I hope to understand more comprehensively the tradition of Ethical Culture and secular humanism so that I can really have a slamming 'elevator speech!' Check it out on the ethicalfocus.org website. Learn what it means to call yourself a humanist!

Platform Video: Raising Freethinkers

The following ECS/Bergen Platform address was delivered on Sunday, October 18, 2009, by Dale McGowan (introduced by Dr. Joseph Chuman):

Dale McGowan: Raising Freethinkers from Ethical Culture Society Bergen on Vimeo.

Much is rightly made of raising children who are compassionate, intelligent, moral, and well-adjusted. But too often, these values are placed in opposition to raising independent thinkers. Allow them to think for themselves, goes the reasoning, and our children just might think their way into immorality and self-indulgent chaos.

Dale McGowan argues that this is one of several areas in which we often work counter to our own intentions, and that parents who raise independent thinkers are actually more likely to end up with compassionate, intelligent, moral, and well-adjusted kids.

McGowan edited and co-authored Parenting Beyond Belief and Raising Freethinkers and serves as executive director of Foundation Beyond Belief, a new humanist charitable and educational foundation. In 2008, he was named Humanist of the Year by the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard University.

Dale holds degrees in physical anthropology and music theory from UC Berkeley as well as a Ph.D. in music composition and theory from the University of Minnesota. He and his wife Becca, a first grade teacher, live near Atlanta with their three kids—Delaney (7), Erin (11), and Connor (14).

Dale McGowen, Parenting Beyond Belief

On Saturday morning, October 17th I did something I never do. I got my butt out of bed to pay money to see a person speak about childrearing issues. In the interest of full disclose I was also the accidental organizer of this event. Without going into the less than interesting details of that arrangement, I also knew this would be something I'd enjoy. It was, as it turns out, very important in the development of a free thinking tradition I hope to instill in my family.

The workshop stimulated so much thinking on my part, I was sad when I realized these stirrings would go ungratified. I wanted to talk more about it but there was a lot of ground to cover and limitations in time. I became aware of the struggle I feel at times as a parent. It's not a terribly dramatic struggle, its rather, the quiet questions and moments of uncertainty that come along with the territory of raising children. These moments we touched upon in the seminar, were the big moments, the big questions, the important ones that you want to get right because you know how it important it is in the development of our little sentient beings. "Mommy do we believe in God?" "Mommy, what happened to Great Grandma? Will she come back?" "Mommy, Esther says you will go to hell because you have a tattoo!"

I really understood from this seminar that the orientation to humanism and free thinking has got to be treated like a work in progress. McGowen gives great resources to help with this endeavor. I'm planning on getting a fascinating book he recommended about creation stories from many of the major religions and great civilizations to begin the dialogue with my children about religion and the recognition I hope to instill that there is not one way to think.

Healthcare reform panel

FOR: Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County and Bergen Grassroots

FROM: Eisenman-Todd / CONTACT: Paul Eisenman 201-692-9600

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Bergen County—There are many proposals for health care reform afloat these days—Senate and House committees alone have at least five—and two respected area physicians with varying views will discuss elements of their approaches at a forum on Tuesday, Oct. 27 at 7pm. The site is the Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County Meeting Hall, 687 Larch Avenue, Teaneck. The doors open at 6:45, the forum begins at 7pm and is scheduled to conclude at 9pm.

Ethical Culture and Bergen Grassroots, a good government reform group, are co-sponsoring the meeting. It features two physicians who have debated the health care reform issue numerous times throughout the greater NYC metropolitan area. Both have decades of medical practice experience and have been published numerous times.

Dr. Oliver Fein, a practicing general internist with experience in health policy, is President of Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) and Chair of its New York Metro Chapter. This nationwide organization supports a Medicare-for-All (single-payer) system as the most efficient and economical form of health care reform. Among other things, Dr. Fein is currently Professor of Clinical Medicine and Clinical Public Health and Associate Dean at the Weill Cornell Medical College.

Richard H. Bernstein, MD, FACP is a medical director at the Visiting Nursing Service of New York and has been practicing general internal medicine for thirty years. Dr. Bernstein is an Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine and Clinical Community and Preventive Medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

Joe Chuman, leader of the countywide Ethical Culture Society branch, will moderate the debate.

The physicians will flip a coin to determine who goes first. Each will have 20 minutes to present his reform position and each will have 5 minutes of response after the other’s presentation. The floor will then be thrown open for questions.

Bergen Grassroots, founded in 2005, meets regularly and publicly on the third Wednesday of each month at 7pm in the ECS auditorium. According to its statement of policy, Bergen Grassroots is a political activist group whose members include Republican and Democratic Party members as well as independents. Bergen Grassroots supports candidates for office, sponsors forums like this one to educate the public on political and social issues, engages people in the political process, and seeks to inform lawmakers and other officials at every level of government of its policies and platform.
The Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County, a welcoming humanist community and its Sunday School, meet at 11a.m. on Sundays at 687 Larch Avenue, Teaneck. For more information, call 201 836-5187 or visit www.EthicalFocus.org.

Platform Video: Reflections on the Lunatic Fringe

The following ECS/Bergen Platform address was delivered on Sunday, October 4, 2009, by Dr. Joseph Chuman (introduced by Ed Gross):

Dr. Joseph Chuman: Reflections on the Lunatic Fringe (10/4/2009) from Ethical Culture Society Bergen on Vimeo.

The fracas over health care reform has brought to political life an irrationality that is very disturbing. But it is not new to American history. How are we to explain views that are not only extreme but are disconnected from fact? This address will provide some possible responses.