American Ethical Union Religious Education strives to provide ethical education
in the member Ethical Societies of the AEU. Our goal is to encourage parents to
work with their children on an alternate way of doing religion that focuses on
values, moral decision making and living with the difficulties one is faced
with growing up in the world.
The AEU provides curriculum, activities and support for those societies that
have an RE program. Usually these larger societies have a Director of Religious
Education (DRE) who works with the children’s programming. When contacting an
Ethical Society you should ask if it has a DRE.
The DREs are supported by an RE Committee and a National Director. There is
an extensive RE library available to DREs and the RE Committee produces AEU
curriculum on a regular basis. A Conference/Retreat is held yearly for
enhancing the work of DREs across the country.
Contact the AEU office
for more information. (News on the RE Conference/Retreat is posted on the
home page of this site when it is received.)
Sample curriculum materials:
Download
Free Ethical Heroes coloring books. Appropriate for preschool
thru early elementary aged kids. These coloring books were created by the
Religious Education Committee of the American Ethical Union. (In PDF files
for easy downloading and printing - may require
Adobe Reader 7.0 or later):
Tapestries Curriculum:
Our Ethical Culture Tapestry: The People, The Patterns, The Principles
Stories and curriculum about Ethical Culture for elementary aged children.
Can also be used with older children and adults as an introduction to
Ethical Heroes and Heroines.
- Download this
curriculum (note: this is a VERY large PDF file and may not download on all computers)
Love Your Neighbor Curriculum
The Love Your Neighbor curriculum was written by the Religious Education
committee of the American Ethical Union. It accompanies the book of the same
name, written by Arthur Dobrin, the Leader Emeritus of the Long Island Ethical
Humanist Society. The Dobrin book of stories is available through Scholastic
books. This curriculum is appropriate for preschool through early elementary
aged children. The curriculum includes lessons to go along with the 13
stories in the book. Lessons include art projects, songs, dramatic play,
and discussion questions. Materials for the lessons are primarily basic
easy-to-find supplies. These lessons can be used with a Sunday School group
or at home with your family. For each lesson, key Ethical Core Values are
identified. The stories in the book Love Your Neighbor were originally
written to be shared with an intergenerational group at the beginning of
platform. They are enjoyed by all ages.
