Ethical Society Without Walls Community

• From the Leader - Why Labor Day Matters to Ethical Culturists
• Website News
• Ethical Action - Labor Day - EAR and Motts
• From Around the Movement

From the Leader
Why Labor Day Matters to Ethical Culturists
Susan grew up in a home where Labor Day was a sacred holiday. In this blog she explores why supporting the rights of workers and unions is so important from an Ethical Culture perspective.

Community Calls
Sunday, Sept. 5 - Labor and Ethical Culture
Join Susan and Hugh to talk about Ethical Culture and the labor movement. Hugh will be giving some of the historical perspective and Felix Adler's exploration of the "arbeit frage" - the labor question. The call is at noon Pacific Time, 1pm Mountain, 2pm Central and 3pm Eastern Time. The number to join the call is 866-740-1260 and the access code is 5766842#. For safety reasons we request that participants are not driving while on the call.
Sunday, Sept. 19
What are the ethical concerns involving water usage, both on a personal level and on a broader scale. ESWoW member Paual Rochelle will be joining us to share information and her personal experiences and practices around water usage. The call is at noon Pacific Time, 1pm Mountain, 2pm Central and 3pm Eastern Time. The number to join the call is 866-740-1260 and the access code is 5766842#. For safety reasons we request that participants are not driving while on the call.

Please invite anyone you think might be interested in our topics and in connecting with others interested in Ethical Culture to participate in our calls.

Online Courses
Hugh Taft-Morales, the ESWoW consulting Leader, is planning an Introduction to Ethical Culture course to be based primarily on our website and available soon. Hugh is looking for input as he develops the course and you can read more in his blog from last week. Whether you are new to Ethical Culture and have lots of questions, or have been around for a while, your input is important. Please leave a comment on Hugh's blog.

Website News
We are closing in on the "go live" date for our redesigned website. The website is being redesigned to better meet the needs of our primarily online community, giving us the opportunity to participate in forums, chats, and more readily connecting with each other. Please let me know if you would like to be part of the website testing leading up to our going live.

Ethical Action
In honor of Labor Day, our featured ethical action item is in support of workers rights.

Mott's: Rotting Away Workers' Rights
Workers at Mott's Williamson, NY, plant have been on strike since May to protest the company's unfair negotiations. The stock of Mott's parent company rose 180 percent last year. So sharply cutting their workers' wages and pensions isn't a matter of keeping the business afloat; it's purely a matter of corporate greed. Over 19,000 of you have taken action, but we need more pressure on the apple sauce and juice company.

» Tell Mott's - workers deserve fair negotiations, not bullying and disrespect!

From Around the Movement
Ethical Culture and the Ongoing Quest for Social Justice
In this Platform address given in 2005, Dr. Joseph Chuman, Leader of The Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County, gives us some of the history of the Ethical Movement and the Labor Movement.

Yours in Ethical Community,
Susan Rose
Leader, ESWoW

• From the Leader - Ethical Culture and Interdependence
• Community Calls - July 4 and July 18
• Guest Platforms – AEU Certification Ceremony for New Leaders
• Joe Chuman, Charge to the Leaders
• Talks from Amanda Poppei, Mary Herman, and Hugh Taft-Morales
• AEU News - Announcement of Separation for Executive Director
• Ethical Action Reports - July Issue

From the Leader
Ethical Culture and Interdependence
Susan Rose writes about how some people dominating other people does not fit in with the Ethical Culture concept of interdependence, and she asks What does Independence Day mean to you? What are your thought on interdependence?

Community Calls
Please join us to talk about Ethical Culture and interdependence on Sunday, July 4, 2010 at 12m PT, 1 pm MT, 2 pm CT, and 3pm ET. The number for the call is 866-740-1260 and the access code is 5766842#. Community calls are a great way to connect with others interested in living more ethical lives and explore Ethical Culture.

Guest Platforms
This year, the Platform Meeting at the American Ethical Union celebrated the certification of three new Ethical Culture Leaders. Certification is the term we use in Ethical Culture instead of a term such as ordination.

Most familiar to us in ESWoW is Hugh Taft-Morales who was certified in January. Joining him as new Leaders are Amanda Poppei, certified and Mary Herman. All three new Leaders are from the Washington Ethical Society in Washington, D.C.

As Dean of Leadership Training, I had the pleasure of presiding at this Platform. Anne Klaeysen, Chair of the Training Committee gave the opening words, Richard Kiniry who had a close involvement with each of the new Leaders training introduced each one, Joe Chuman gave the Charge to the Leaders and of course, each new Leader spoke.

The Platform was greatly enhanced by the musical talent of the Washington Ethical Society Chorus under the Leadership of Melodie Feather. I am appreciative that so many people from the WES chorus were able to participate in the Platform.

The collection from the Platform was shared by the American Ethical Union and the Northeast Pennsylvania Rainbow Alliance. Next week, Hugh Taft-Morales will be sharing with us about all the activities at the conference related to LGBTQ activities.

Certificates and gifts were presented to the new Leaders by Susan Rose, Anne Klaeysen and Susan Goldfrank, Chair of the Leadership Committee.

• Charge to the Leaders
  Joe Chuman, Leader NY and Bergen Ethical Societies
  
• Introduction of and talk by Mary Herman
  
• Introduction of and talk by Amanda Poppei
  
• Introduction of and talk by Hugh Taft-Morales
  

AEU News
Announcement of Separation
The following announcement was made by the American Ethical Union:

The AEU is grateful to Katharine Archibald for her services as Executive Director. Her assistance in the AEU's development, loyalty to the organization, and zeal in furthering its interests have been invaluable. However, the AEU Board has determined that the future development of the AEU will require a new leadership. Accordingly, effective July 2, 2010, Ms. Archibald will leave the AEU's Executive Director position.

This change in personnel presents the AEU with the opportunity to review its overall staff structure and, accordingly, there will be no immediate formation of a search team or appointment of an interim Executive Director. Randall Best will assume Ms. Archibald's responsibilities as our voting representative to the Secular Coalition of America; Randall Best and Arnold Fishman will assume Ms. Archibald's responsibilities and continue our participation in HEADS; and Jennifer Scates, president of the AEU Board, will assume Ms. Archibald's responsibilities as an ex-officio committee member.

I will keep you apprised of this situation and any impact changes at the AEU will have on ESWoW.

Ethical Action Reports
The July issue of the Ethical Action Reports is available on the AEU website.

Yours in Ethical Community,
Susan Rose, Leader

• From the Leader - Memorial Day for Peace
• Hugh Taft-Morales as ESWoW Consulting Leader
• Guest Platform - Randy Best on Memorial Day
• Community Call - June 6, 2010
  Martha Gallahue on An Ethical Culture Perspective on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer People and Issues
• AEU Assembly

From the Leader
Susan shares her experience of attending a Memorial Day for Peace program at Boston Harbor and wonders what your Memorial Day experiences are.

Consulting Leader
I am pleased to announce that Hugh Taft-Morales will continue working with ESWoW as a consulting Leader for the coming year. Hugh will be contributing blogs from time to time and his main focus will be developing courses for ESWoW, starting with a basic introduction to Ethical Culture which we expect to have ready for you by sometime in September.

Guest Platform
Former ESWoW Leader, and current Leader of the Ethical Humanist Society of the Triangle, Randy Best shares his thoughts on Memorial Day as a time to think about alternatives to war.

Community Call - Martha Gallahue
An Ethical Culture Perspective on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer People and Issues
Ethical Culture has been supportive of rights and respect for all people, including those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning. Let's explore why that is so and what we can do to increase understanding and eliminate discrimination based on sexual identity, sexual orientation, gender expression or affectional preference.

The National Leaders Council recently created a statement to reaffirm our historic support of treating all people with respect and dignity and that no people should have basic human rights denied to them because of sexual identity or orientation.

Leader Martha Gallahue will join us to discuss this new statement and will focus on two points in particular:

• Ethical Culture History regarding queer issues
• Ethical Culture's philosophical premise of grounding relationships in mutuality which removes "otherness"

How do queer people and issues affect your life? Is your life enriched by having people of varying sexual identities in it? Do you do social justice work on these issues?

Please join us for this conversation on Sunday, June 6, 2010 and invite anyone you think might be intersted in exploring the intersection of Ethical Culture and GLBQT people and issues.

Our call on June 20, 2010 will bring you news of the events at the AEU Assembly related to BLGQT issues.

The number to join ESWoW Community Calls is toll-free - 866-740-1240. The calls take place on the first and third Sundays most months at noon Pacific, 1pm Mountain, 2pm Central and 3pm Eastern Time.

AEU Assembly
American Ethical Union's 95th Assembly - June 17-20, 2010
The American Ethical Union Annual Assembly gives members of Ethical societies across the country an opportunity to come together to share workshops, social action work and good fellowship. Leaders Susan Rose and Hugh Taft-Morales both will be offering workshops at this year's Assembly. We are especially pleased to be celebrating the certification of Hugh Taft-Morales as a fully certified Ethical Culture Leader. We hope you can join us.

From the Assembly Committee:

In order to continue our efforts in lessening our carbon footprint and due to the success of last year's online registration, the AEU is offering Online Registration again this year.

If you have any questions regarding this years Assembly, please call the AEU at 212-873-6500 or email lmiller@aeu.org or dpang@aeu.org. We are looking forward to seeing you in Scranton!!

Yours in Ethical Community,
Susan Rose, Leader