Lights Out March 28

On Saturday, March 28, communities all around the world will be turning their lights out for one hour at 8:30 pm local time to show concern around the world for global climate change.

The Earth Hour started in Sydney, Australia in 2007 and in 2008 there were approximately 50 million people turning off their lights as well as some major landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge were dark as well.

I like the simple yet dramatic approach, making a clear statement that we do need to be concerned as people of the earth about our actions and how they affect the climate for all of us and the future of our planet. I like the emphasis this year on our connection as people of the earth, knowing that how each of us lives affects others, not only ourselves.

This year, Earth Hour is being presented as an opportunity to take a global vote and the hope is that 1 billion people will participate.

As we move into our month of considering our ethical obligations to the environment, I see this as a wonderful symbol of action and connection. We may be in different places, but we can know that we're all taking action and caring about each other.

I'm getting out my candles, how about you?

Earth Hour Website

Official Earth Hour Video

United Nations Environment Programme
 

Ethical Culture is my religion. It might not be yours and that's fine.

I was being intensely questioned recently (in the way that only my 18 year old daughter can be intense) about why Ethical Culture is a religion. She knows that not everyone who is involved with Ethical Culture considers it to be a religion, but wanted to know why anyone would consider it to be a religion.

I gave some of my standard answers – a lot depends on how you define religion – religion does not have to be theistic, Ethical Culture provides rites of passage, ceremonies for marriage and life-commitment, for welcoming babies into the world and their communities and memorial services to celebrate the lives of those who have died and provide support for the survivors. I mentioned that we are congregationally organized and try to offer support to each other in the journey of life. She wasn’t quite convinced.

This morning, in doing my daily journal writing, I thought about how one aspect of Ethical Culture might impress her as being a more appropriate characteristic of a religion. That is that in Ethical Culture we have a sense of ethical obligation, of duty to live our lives in an ethical manner. It isn’t an idea that we can pick up when it is convenient for us, when everything else in our lives is going smoothly and we can decide to focus on “being ethical.” Read more »

Last week we looked at what is an Ethical Society. This week we look at how the Ethical Society Without Walls is similar to and different from societies with walls, and what we might want to do create a greater sense of community in our society.

An ethical society is a community of people interested in living more ethical lives, believing that human sensibilities and community are the basis we have for living our best possible lives. People in an ethical society come together to support each in the very difficult task of trying to live as ethically as possible. Societies have meetings, or other means to share ideas which are meant to be inspiring and thought provoking.

I see ESWoW as forming community -- slowly. There are many individuals who come to our website, read the weekly newsletter and have no direct connection with others in ESWoW. I think that will always be true. I see in the phone calls we've been having that we do have some people who are developing a sense of connection to our group. My hope and vision is that we will be able to create more connections, primarily online and through email, but also phone and face-to-face connections between individuals who are interested in ethical living. Perhaps we'll have an "ethical buddies" section where people looking to have conversations with other people, either individually or in groups can connect with each other. Read more »

That's a question with many answers. Different societies have different characteristics, and certainly the Ethical Society Without Walls has some very different characteristics - I'll address the particularities of our Society next week, and for this newsletter, will focus on the commonalities of ethical societies.

An ethical society is a community of people interested in living more ethical lives, believing that human sensibilities and community are the basis we have for living our best possible lives. People in an ethical society come together to support each in the very difficult task of trying to live as ethically as possible. Societies have meetings, or other means to share ideas which are meant to be inspiring and thought provoking.

Most societies have a weekly program, some less frequently. For societies that meet in person, the format usually consists of

• Opening Words - usually an inspirational reading related to the main topic of the day
• A Platform Address - sometimes given by an Ethical Culture Leader, sometimes by an invited guest. (The term Platform comes from the practice of the speaker simply being on a slightly raised Platform for visibility in contrast to a sermon being preached from a towering pulpit. The themes of the Platform talks usually address some aspect of ethical living.)
• Discussion of or response to the Platform
• Announcements
• A collection for the financial support of the Society
• Closing Words - again, an inspirational reading

The majority of societies which meet in person also have music interspersed throughout the program. Some people use the term "service" to refer to the program - typically, but not exclusively held on Sunday mornings. There is no great significance to Sunday mornings, other than it being a time when many people are available. Read more »

Perhaps you're new to Ethical Culture, or perhaps you've been a member for a long time -- and just enjoy exploring the conversation.

My current short answer is that Ethical Culture is a religious movement connecting people committed to exploring and living ethical lives based on human experience. In Ethical Culture we seek to use ethical concepts to guide our lives. We believe it is important to put our ethical ideals into action in all aspects of our lives. We come together to work and support each other. We seek to make the world a better place, to learn and practice having better relationships with ourselves and those around us. We celebrate together the joys of our lives and to observe, support and share in times of grief and sorrow.

Several Ethical Culture Sunday Schools use the following list of values: (I still need to find the proper attribution for this and will share it with you when I find it.)

The National Leaders Council recently developed a statement which has a more comprehensive view of Ethical Culture:

Ethical Culture

The following is a statement on where Ethical Culture/Ethical Humanism1 stands at the beginning of the 21st century. Its intent is to clarify our shared beliefs in language that resonates with the familiar and unfamiliar alike. Open to the possibilities of the future, it is part of a living canon -- an expression of those Ethical Culture Leaders who endorse it and are devoted to furthering Ethical Humanism within its context.

Dedicated to cultivating moral development in personal life and moral reform in society, Ethical Culture seeks to nurture relationships in which we act so as to elicit the best in others and thereby in ourselves, to provide inspiration and guidance for moral living, and to transform the way humanity views the meaning of life. Read more »

I came across an article in the Detroit Free Press by Rochelle Riley in which she suggests that Black History Month should be ended. She wrote:

I propose that, for the first time in American history, this country has reached a point where we can stop celebrating separately, stop learning separately, stop being American separately. We have reached a point where most Americans want to gain a larger understanding of the people they have not known, customs they have not known, traditions they have not known.

I propose that this month, 142 years after Congress passed the Reconstruction Acts of 1867 that allowed for the Southern states to be readmitted to the Union, we adopt our own personal reconstruction goals to admit into our lives people who are different, people whose origins differ from ours, people who can teach us so much if we listen.

I propose that this month, we become not the America of Rush Limbaugh or the America of Al Franken, but to become an America where all opinions matter and hope trumps hate.

I propose that this February, we become not an America of black or white or Hispanic or Asian, but an America of black and white and Hispanic and Asian, an America where each of those heritages is a mandatory part of school curriculums. We don't need more amendments to the U.S. Constitution; we need more amendments to our own personal behaviors, beginning with changing how we treat one another. Read more »

Ethical action is one of the most important components of Ethical Culture. While thinking about our values, examining them and educating ourselves are all important to us in Ethical Culture, how we put our values into practice is most important.

Some describe Ethical Culture as a religion of relationships. Those relationships include our relationship to our self, our relationships to others who are close to us, others to whom we have a less intense relationship, and then, there is the whole set of people to whom we do not have a direct connection or interaction with, but to whom we are nevertheless, connected.

Growing out of our belief that each and every human is born deserving to be treated with worth and dignity, is seeing that not everyone is treated well, and then seeing the need to work to change that. That is basic to our commitment to ethical action, working for social justice and doing our part to make the world and more just and a more humane place for everybody.

There are so many ways in which the world needs our help to become more humane and more just. While many of us in the United States are feeling more hopeful about the political outlook, there still remains much to be concerned about. Some of that is on a personal level, how our lives are affected by the current economic situation for example, some on a community level, knowing that there may be people in our neighborhood whose needs are not being met, people in our country who do not have access to adequate health care or perhaps any health care at all. And then there are larger issues, our country at war, and a world whose climate is changing in ways which could have many negative effects on many, many people. Read more »

So much has come from this past week. Watching the inauguration and some of the festivities around it was heartening for me, giving me an excitement about living in the United States, being a citizen, that I haven't felt for a while. Some say the feelings are relief that the last eight years are over, and sure, that does feel good, but I do feel hopeful that there might be a more cooperative turn in how we live together in this country.

Of great note in President Obama's inaugural address, was his use of the term non-believers when listing some of the religious perspectives held by people in the United States. It has caused much stirring, positive and negative reactions -- and that's just me -- lots and lots of others have been exploring the inclusion of that term.

My very first reaction was surprise and happiness. There was so much reference to theistic religion in the whole election process, campaigning, election night speeches, it seemed to me that very little was said without the ending with "And God Bless America." I mostly tried to understand the necessity of using such language in the political climate, but my goodness, once Obama was elected, couldn't he give it a rest for one speech? So on hearing him acknowledge the existence of those who do not believe in god was thrilling.

On the other hand, I really dislike the term non-believer to describe me or any others who do not believe in god. I've yet to meet someone in Ethical Culture who doesn't believe in many values, very strongly. Having a historical context for the term is helpful, understanding that the term is used by many Christians to describe those who do not believe in the divinity of Jesus, gives a better context. Knowing that it is fairly natural to define people in terms of oneself, what one knows, also makes it more understandable. Read more »

Opening Words - Martin Luther King, Jr.
Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution

An excerpt from an address delivered at the National Cathedral, Washington, D.C., on 31 March 1968: Read more »