• Around the Ethical Movement - Anne Klaeysen,  Bart Worden
• Community Call - SUNDAY, April 22, 2012 - with Bart Worden
• American Ethical Union Assembly -  June 14- 17 

Around the Ethical Movement:  

Two colleagues have had articles published recently and I share them both with you.

Anne Klaeysen, Leader of the New York Society for Ethical Culture, and a recent presenter for an ESWoW Community Call, was published in the NY Times Room for Debate Forum.  Her article, "The Founders Preferred E Pluribus Unum,"  addresses the language found on all US currency.   Here's part of what Anne wrote:

The cost is only part of the problem with U.S. currency. As a religious humanist, I am more concerned with the words imprinted on every coin and bill in the United States: “In God We Trust,” a motto that the House of Representatives recently saw fit to reaffirm in a resolution that cited “a crisis of national identity.” A far more inclusive motto, “E pluribus unum,” proposed for the first Great Seal of the United States by John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson in 1776, also appears on all of our coins and some of our bills.

Please take a look at the full article and add a comment if you'd like.

Bart Worden, Leader of the Ethical Culture Society of Westchester, in White Plains, NY, recently wrote a commentary piece "Police Officers Reflect Our Racial Bias,"  for the local Westchester newspaper the Journal News.  I found this paragraph to be most thought-provoking:

But let’s face it: our law enforcement is a reflection of us. Our own attitudes, opinions, misperceptions and apprehensions are what drive the behavior of law enforcement. Our obsession with personal safety, our fear of people who don’t look like us, our inattention to the lives of anyone who is not perceived as “our kind” lay the groundwork for racial bias and provide a sustaining environment for that bias.

And again, please take a look at the full article and add a comment if you'd like.

ESWoW Community Call 

Sunday, April 22, 2012
5pm PT, 6pm MT, 7pm CT, and 8pm ET

Bart Worden will be joining the ESWoW Community Call to discuss the issue of racial bias in law-enforcement, our part in such bias, and thoughts about what we can do to make positive changes.  Not only did Bart write the above article, but he has been taking action on this issue in a variety of ways which he will be able to share with us. 

The number for the call is 866-740-1260, access code 5766842#.  Please invite anyone you know who is interested in this issue to participate in the call.

RSVP on Facebook.

AEU Assembly

Our Assembly is an important point in our lives as Ethical Culturists. It is an opportunity to immerse ourselves in what it really means to belong to Ethical Culture. The annual Assembly gives us an opportunity to experience the Ethical Movement in a larger context.

This year, there is especially exciting programming.  I am most excited about the social justice programming happening on Saturday, June 16, 2012.  The social justice theme is Criminal Justice, and there is a stellar line-up of speakers both from within the Ethical Movement and people working in the criminal justice field.

There will be  a special meeting time for ESWoW members to get to meet with each other in person and we are able to renew and make new acquaintances with members of societies from across the country. It is an exciting opportunity to learn from each other, not only through the many workshops but by strengthening communication Rose know if you are planning to attend the Assembly and interested in being an ESWoW delegate.

Early registration through May 1, 2012:

Assembly information and registration form

Yours in Ethical Community,

Susan Rose, Leader

Ethical Society Without Walls