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Hugh Taft-Morales
ESWoW Newsletter - December 31, 2011
- From the Leader: "(Another) Year of Living Ethically"
- Community Call - Sunday, January 1, 2012
- Dialogue Group Call
- From Around the Movement - Hugh Taft-Morales: "My Lunch with Jesse Jackson"
- Happy New Year!
From the Leader: "(Another) Year of Living Ethically"
Susan Rose invites you to explore what it might be like to have the intentional purpose of spending a year living more ethically, both in her blog and in a full Platform (PDF).
Community Calls:
Community Calls are a way for us to connect with each other, get to know each other a bit more, and to learn about Ethical Culture. We're experimenting with when to have the calls, and welcome any thoughts about when to schedule calls.
For now, we have three calls scheduled for January. The dates and topics for the calls are as follows: Read more »
Tags: ESWoW Newsletter - October 2011
- From the Leader - Susan Rose - The Death Penalty - the ethical implications
- Community Call - October 2 - The Death Penalty - Where are We Now
- Dialogue Group - October 2 - Sally Leete
- Community Call - October 16 - Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Your Town?
- From the Ethical Movement - Bart Worden on September 11, 2001
The Death Penalty, Yet Another Look
Troy Davis was killed on September 21, 2011 by the state of Georgia. The cause of death, after an autopsy, was homicide. The intention of course was to say that because Troy Davis was convicted of homicide, he was executed, put to death, killed by the state of Georgia. But I think you could readily say that the state of Georgia, without any doubt whatsoever, committed homicide, defined as any killing of one human being by another.
So much has been written about the specifics of the Troy Davis case, so I won't go into details here. What has affected me most about this case, is the disregard for both human life, and the justice system of this country. How can we feel any confidence in a system which allowed the death penalty to be exercised, even when there was considerable doubt as to the guilt of the convicted.
We know that people have been put to death who have later been exonerated of committing the crime for which they were killed. Yes, we all make mistakes, but somehow Oops! or I'm sorry, just are not sufficient when an innocent person has been killed mistakenly. Read more »
9/11 Ten Years Later
As I prepare to speak at the Baltimore Ethical Society on the tenth anniversary of 9/11, I struggle to make sense of the tragedy. I offer these thoughts to ESWoW visitors in the hope that they may allow more meaning and ethical commitment to grow from this wound in America’s psyche. The image of a wound came to me again this past July when staying in my cousin’s Battery Park apartment before speaking at the New York Society for Ethical Culture. As I headed uptown toward the Society that Sunday morning, I passed “ground zero” - the site where once stood the twin towers. Although most of the refuse and jagged metal had been removed or buried, the site struck me as a giant aching wound in the cityscape. Today, September 11, a public memorial site opens there with two huge sunken reflection pools marking the footprint of the disappeared buildings in which so many died. The pools are cut into the ground, and water pours like the tears of family members and friends of the deceased.
As I drove by, I was reminded of Maya Lin’s Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C., which knifes into a soft grassy knoll next to the Lincoln Memorial. I recall her saying that she wanted to cut the earth, revealing a wound that slowly heals but never fully disappears. Like Vietnam, the 9/11 horror of ten years ago will never go away. Like ground zero in lower Manhattan, it will always ache with deep and powerful suffering. Read more »
ESWoW Newsletter, July 16, 2011
- From the Leader - Ethical Inspiration - Hugh Taft-Morales
- Community Call for July 17 cancelled
- Community Call August 7 - "Youth in Ethical Culture" Catherine Bordeau, Leader-in-Training
- Dialogue Group Call July 17
From the Leader
Hugh Taft-Morales shares an article, Ethical Inspiration, originally written for the Baltimore Ethical Society based on a Platform he gave there in May. I hope you will be as inspired as I was.
Community Calls
Community Calls are a way that we can connect with each other more closely - we can hear each other's voices and learn a bit more about each other. Our calls have been on the first and third Sundays of each month, in the afternoon. At our meeting with ESWoW people at the recent AEU Assembly, there was the suggestion that we might try other times such as Sunday evenings, or weekdays. I'd like to have your input about times might work well for you, keeping in mind that we need times that are workable across the US.
No Community Call on July 17 - we've been having a low turn-out, so we're going to just have calls on the first Sundays of the month for the summer.
Please join us on August 7 for Catherine Bordeau, Leader-in-Training, working at the Brooklyn Society. She will be talking to us about her visions for the future of Ethical Culture, particularly incorporating a younger audience than we often reach.
Dialogue Group - from Sally Leete Read more »
Ethical Inspiration - Hugh Taft-Morales
This is an article originally published in the newsletter of the Baltimore Ethical Society. It is based on a Platform address given by Hugh as Leader of the Baltimore Ethical Society on May 1, 2011. (SR)
The theme of my May 1 Platform on "leadership" was that we all have the potential - in our own unique way - to be leaders. I then asked, "How does a community where everyone is a leader keep chaos at bay?" I mean if a parade was made up of nothing more than drum majors, wouldn't it just degenerate into a crowd of people each marching in different directions to the beat of their own drummer?
Well, in part, what holds us together are our wonderful shared collection of beliefs, ways of living, ethical relationships, and caring communities. We are also held together by our common history from Felix Adler to today. For me, however, what really holds us together are the values we share. While they have evolved through our history, they maintain a consistency and heart.
I concluded my talk by sharing the three values I tend to promote in my "elevator speech" - that two-minute explanation of Ethical Culture you offer to an inquirer in the time that you are riding in an elevator together. A member of the Baltimore Society suggested I share these values again in this newsletter, and so I do. I ask you to consider them over the summer.
The three values I find that best reflect what Ethical Culture means to me are as follows:
1) respect and celebration of the inherent worth of every person;
2) the importance of creating flourishing ethical relationships; and Read more »
Reading: Selections from "Inherent Worth"
"Inherent Worth" was originally written by Hugh Taft-Morales in 2008 and revisied in 2010. Hugh has worked as an Ethical Culture Leader with ESWoW, and served both the Philadelphia and Baltimore Ethical Socieities. He is also the teacher of this course.
Introduction to Ethical Culture
We're in the process of posting this course. Please feel free to take a look at what is here so far, and please contact Hugh( htaft-morales at eburke.org) if you are interested in enrolling in this course.
Your teacher will be Hugh Taft-Morales, Ethical Culture Leader. The course is intended for people new to Ethical Culture, or long-time members who would like a basic refresher.
YOU MUST BE LOGGED ON IN ORDER TO ACCESS ALL THE MATERIALS FOR THE COURSE.
The course is divided into four sections as follows:
(I) History and Identity
(II) The Primacy of Ethics and Inherent Worth
(III) Nurturing Ethical Relationships
(IV) Ethical Action and Social Justice
Begun in 1876 by Felix Adler, Ethical Culture places ethics at the center of our shared human life. It offers people the support of a community of individuals all wishing to live closer to their ideals.
Diverse in many ways, we share a deep respect for the worth of every person, a desire to build social justice, and a commitment to building ethical relationships. As an educational, religious and social justice movement, Ethical Culture stands out as a common sense alternative to the extremism and intolerance of contemporary times. Sometimes called a religion for people who don’t like religions, we encourage free thought and compassion in all our associations.
Want to know more? Join us on-line for this exploration of this inspiring branch of humanism.
Evangelizing for Evolution
Hugh Taft-Morales
Although Ethical Culture places deed before creed, there are few claims about reality more universally accepted within humanism than the theory of evolution. Yet creationism is alive and well in the United States. In honoring Darwin Day, how can we explain evolution in a way that better appeals to the more traditionally religiously-minded? How can science better satisfy human spiritual yearnings for experiences such as awe, humility, and a connection to something greater than ourselves? Can humanists ethically evangelize for evolution?
Continue, or join the conversation about this evangelizing for evolution here.
Community Call - Sunday, February 20, 2011
Evangelizing for Evolution - Hugh Taft-Morales
Although Ethical Culture places deed before creed, there are few claims about reality more universally accepted within humanism than the theory of evolution. Yet creationism is alive and well in the United States. In honoring Darwin Day, how can we explain evolution in a way that better appeals to the more traditionally religiously-minded? How can science better satisfy human spiritual yearnings for experiences such as awe, humility, and a connection to something greater than ourselves? Can humanists ethically evangelize for evolution?
Please join us - 12 m PT, 1pm MT, 2pm CT, 3pm ET 866-740-1260 access code 5766842#.
And please invite anyone you know who might be interested in this topic to participate in this presentation and discussion.
You can read Hugh's latest blog, Love and Dictators, and Susan's latest blog, Reason for Hope, on our website.
Community Call - Sunday, February 20, 2011
Evangelizing for Evolution - Hugh Taft-Morales
Although Ethical Culture places deed before creed, there are few claims about reality more universally accepted within humanism than the theory of evolution. Yet creationism is alive and well in the United States. In honoring Darwin Day, how can we explain evolution in a way that better appeals to the more traditionally religiously-minded? How can science better satisfy human spiritual yearnings for experiences such as awe, humility, and a connection to something greater than ourselves? Can humanists ethically evangelize for evolution?
Please join us - 12 m PT, 1pm MT, 2pm CT, 3pm ET 866-740-1260 access code 5766842#.
And please invite anyone you know who might be interested in this topic to participate in this presentation and discussion.
You can read Hugh's latest blog, Love and Dictators, and Susan's latest blog, Reason for Hope, on our website.
