A recent conversation with a BES guest reawakened my respect for the complexity, paradox, and uniqueness of Ethical Culture. The conversation began around a phrase in our platform opening words. They are words many of you have heard often: “The Baltimore Ethical Society is a humanistic religious and educational fellowship inspired by the ideal that the supreme aim of human life is working to create a more humane society.”

While these words are generally positive and reflect much of the spirit of Ethical Culture, our visitor noted that designating “working to create a more humane world” as “the supreme aim of human life” felt a little overly singular. He wondered, in so many words: Is there really only one supreme aim of human life? Might such emphasis on one aim promote a doctrinaire approach less sensitive to a diverse collection of values we all might admire? Why use categorical language – the kind of language that encourages the narrow path toward fanaticism? 

Being a lifelong skeptic myself, I appreciated this perspective. First, it is so important that visitors and new members feel free to share their perspectives on the culture of BES. Sometimes after being inside a subculture for years, one needs fresh sets of eyes to point out how the culture looks from outside the culture. But, second, the comments reminded me of my own resistance to worldviews that reduce the complexity of life to one answer or one solution. I always step back when a salesman for anything – whether a cleaning product or a metaphysics – tells me that this is “the ONLY thing you’ll ever need!” 

It reminds me of discussions I have had regarding theologian Paul Tillich who greatly liberalized social understanding of religion by removing the requirement that it necessarily involve the supernatural. Tillich described religion as dedication to an “ultimate concern.” If one’s ultimate concern is promoting environmentalism or civic engagement, for example, either concern could be one’s religion. It mirrored the words (Our Part, 65-66) of Felix Adler, founder of Ethical Culture: “Religion in a broad sense may be taken to mean any cause in which we are supremely interested.” 

What made me uncomfortable about Tillich’s description was similar to our guest’s reaction to claims that there is one ultimate concern. As I shared in a talk at BES about two years ago, I’m concerned that “ultimate concern” implies a kind of narrow dedication I find unattractive in many religions and philosophies. Life is full of concerns: my marriage, my family, my profession, my health, relationships with friends and strangers, the environment, world peace, and more. Choosing any one, or even any small collection, of these concerns seems to ignore life’s complexity. 

Of course one could argue that “working to create a more humane world” is broad enough to encompass life’s complexity, but that’s not the point I want to pursue here…or with our guest. What is more important is that Ethical Culture respects both the individual and the community. We need an on-going conversation about the values and language necessary to hold the community together while remaining open, questioning, and respectful of new perspectives. Whether or not visitors find BES to their liking and join our community as members, their candid, respectful sharing is fundamental to our future as a flourishing home for humanism in Baltimore.

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Friends and Allies

The community of Humanists will thrive in Baltimore if our city develops a healthy ecosystem of humanist and nontheistic organizations. The Baltimore Ethical Society promotes the growth of this ecosystem by supporting our partners in the Baltimore Coalition of Reason (CoR). This is the right thing to do. It brings out the best in us as a society, and it helps us grow.

Ethicals generally interpret Adler’s ethical maxim on an individual level. We strive to bring out the best in others and to elicit their distinctive worth. We hope that by doing this, we will bring out the best in ourselves. Adler extended this principle to the level of nations and cultures. In his address to the Universal Races Congress in 1911, Adler stated that “…the flaws, as well as the excellent features, of any type of culture may be best detected in the effect it produces on other types.” This principle that applies both to individuals and to cultures also applies to organizations and units smaller than nations. I believe Adler would agree that the features of our Ethical Society can be discerned by the effect we produce in other organizations.

BES has helped incubate two startups in the CoR: the LGBTQ Humanist Council (HC) of Baltimore and the African-American Humanist Society (AAHS). We’ve enabled their use of Meetup.com, offered free use of our space, and jointly sponsored events with them. Our relationship with the LGBTQ HC helped us connect with the campaign for marriage equality and led us to officially support legislation that prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity. The AAHS and BES organized our first joint meetup in April, and I hope that we will do more together. Thanks to the efforts of our ethical Leader Hugh, we partnered with First Unitarian Church of Baltimore to host a discussion group on Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow. Hugh’s outreach sparked a whole discussion series, and First Unitarian invited Baltimore CoR to participate.

Events at BES that we sponsor jointly with Baltimore CoR have recently displayed good attendance that exceeds what the Society typically achieves on its own. HumanLight, two Sunday platform addresses celebrating Charles Darwin, and the Roy Zimmerman concert each had 40 to 50 attend. BES is helping to grow and connect the community of Humanists in Baltimore by hosting these events. As a result, more people are visiting and learning about us. When we publicize events with CoR partners, we profit from the size of their communities. The meetups for the Baltimore Atheists, Baltimore Secular Humanists, Drinking Skeptically Baltimore, and BES have respectively 459, 209, 193, and 94 members.

Supporting our Baltimore CoR partners not only matches our ethical principles, but it helps bring new ideas, connections, and people to our society.

Cooperating with CoR partners comes naturally because we share values of reason, compassion, and hope. I’ve been asked whether BES overemphasizes work with the CoR. BES does partner with organizations outside the Secular Movement. BES supports the Baltimore Time Bank. Hugh offered a course on Western philosophy through the Baltimore Free School. In the future, we should look to work with a wider range of organizations. Two years ago, we seriously considered joining Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development (BUILD), a non-partisan, interfaith organization dedicated to improving our city. The time was not ripe then for us to pursue the opportunity, but our society is reaching the point when we can reconsider this opportunity.

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This talk will explore how we can reclaim the ability to know and care for one another across manufactured barriers and how we can use this as the foundation for confronting one another’s bigotries and blindness. Bruce will speak with both mind and heart, drawing upon his own personal experiences, what he has learned from others, and his perspectives on our society.

In a society that has dehumanized so many of our interactions, author and speaker Bruce A. Jacobs re-humanizes the ways in which we advance what we believe. Jacob’s latest book – Race Manners for the 21st Century – offers ways to compassionately challenge ourselves and others as well as the rules by which we have been taught to live. Once we begin to peel away the influence of our society’s manufactured bigotries, we all have what it takes to start to truly know one another. Jacobs speaks nationally to audiences of good will, doing so in venues that include NPR and C-SPAN. Also a performing poet, a professional jazz drummer, and a very-slowly-improving saxophonist, Jacobs lives in Baltimore. His blog about race, justice, and humanness is aliasbruce.typepad.com.

MAY 12

Many humanists find inspiration in the wonders of nature; the beauty of biology and the poetry of physics can bring much joy. But often those defending reproductive rights avoid discussing the amazing process of human reproduction – from conception, through pregnancy, to birth. To avoid unintentionally providing fuel to those denying women the right to choose, they remain silent about this awe-inspiring process. Taft-Morales explores this important and perplexing tension in honor of Mother’s Day.

Hugh Taft-Morales joined the Baltimore Ethical Society as its professional leader in 2010, the same year he was certified by the American Ethical Union as an Ethical Culture Leader. He taught philosophy and history for twenty-five years in Washington, D.C., after earning a Masters in philosophy from University of Kent at Canterbury, England (1986) and graduating from Yale University (1979). In 2009 he completed a three-year leadership certification program with the Humanist Institute. His presence in Ethical Culture has been termed “invigorating.” He has been active in the Washington Ethical Society, serving as director of its Coming-of-Age program (2009-2011), a Board member (2002-2005), and Board president (2006). He has also been engaged in American Ethical Union work, serving on the AEU planning committee for two years, as co-coordinator for the Presidents Council AEU for a year, and as secretary of the AEU National Leaders Council at present. He also serves as Leader of the Ethical Humanist Society of Philadelphia. Taft-Morales lives in Takoma Park, Maryland, with his wife Maureen, a Latin American Analyst with the Congressional Research Service, with whom he has three beloved children, Sean, Maya, and Justin. Singing and playing guitar, practicing yoga, and watching “way too much sports” are among his enjoyments.

MAY 19

Studies show that atheists, people who do not believe in the existence of a god, are the least trusted minority group in the United States. As a result, humanists and other nonbelievers have been subjected to various forms of discrimination, from bullying in classrooms to loss of jobs. Maggie Ardiente of the American Humanist Association (AHA) will highlight such mistreatment by citing illustrative cases that range from the strange to the serious and will argue why the right to be “without a god” is the new civil rights movement.

Maggie Ardiente is the director of development and communications at the AHA, where she is also editor of its popular weekly e-zine Humanist Network News. She has appeared in the Washington Post, National Public Radio, and Voices of America. At James Madison University, she served as vice president of the JMU Freethinkers, a student group for atheists, agnostics, and humanists, and graduated with a BS in sociology. She is a former board member of the Secular Student Alliance – and a graduate (Class 15) and board member of The Humanist Institute.

MAY 26

Memorial Day Sunday is chance for BES members and guests to remember those who have died. While such loss can be painful, memories can inspire us and warm our hearts. Whether we are thinking of loved ones, historical heroes no longer with us, or those who died in military service to our nation, we are left to honor these precious parts of our lives by bringing out their best. It is up to each of us to make the most of our memories, and today we do so as a community.

During this program, any member or guest who chooses can place a flower, provided by BES, into a vase in memory of someone important to them who died this year or long ago. It can be in honor of a relative, friend, mentor, or historical figure. When placing the flower in a vase, participants may share a few words about this person, or just their name, or they can simply place a flower in the vase silently honoring the person without publicly saying anything.
 

Join us for food, fun, and fellowship following the special platform at BES, which will end earlier than usual at approximately 11:30 a.m. Members Dianne and Stuart Hirsch have graciously agreed to open their home (and yard) to us once again and so we will gather for our annual Memorial Day picnic from 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. The picnic is potluck so please bring a dish to contribute. Directions will be handed out and/or provided on request.

 

Membership Committee chair – Karen Elliott (center right) – welcomes three new members to the BES community: Christian Hurst (far left), Abigail Taggart (center left), and Alan Shapiro (right).

Dedrick Samuels shows off a copy of The Humanist Way which was presented to him by Karen during his new member welcoming in November 2012.