We are a humanistic community of individuals passionately committed to living ethical lives . . .
Ethical Culture examines life through the lens of human experience and searches for meaning within human relationships. It is a part of that great and living humanist tradition that affirms the primacy and beauty of this life and this world, and that cherishes reasoned inquiry and the scientific method.
We define the ethical life as one that facilitates the expression of the unique best within each person while emphasizing our interdependence. We come together in Ethical Societies to share moral insight and to support each other as we carry these inner resources with us into our daily lives.
Goals of the Ethical Movement in this area include:
• Creation and support of Ethical Societies and networks
• Training professional and lay leaders to promote ethical humanist values and nurture [ethical humanist] communities
. . . that affirms the worth and dignity of every person . . .
The central faith of Ethical Culture is that every person has an intrinsic right to self-determination, a decent life, and personal respect. No person or group has the right to use human beings as mere tools. The principle of inherent worth, which is a central intuition of human experience, obligates us to create a world that respects and promotes universal freedom and dignity.
Examples of how Ethical Societies affirm universal worth:
• Participation in progressive social action and making common cause with others struggling to claim their unique voice
• Development of skills necessary for compassionate and open communication
…and that promote the integrity of natural world.
Affirmation of the worth and dignity of all people cannot be separated from protection of the environment and biodiversity on which all beings depend. Humans, like all creatures, are a result of a long process of natural evolution. The natural world gave us life, and it inspires our profoundest understanding of the interrelated destiny of humanity.
The quality of our lives depends on the health of our natural environment. Because we are a part of nature, living alongside other beings, in order to pursue our own goals and interests we must concern ourselves with our relationship to the whole.
Examples of how Ethical Societies promote ecological awareness:
• We show our reverence for life when we walk softly and quietly upon the earth.
• Celebrations of seasonal changes (SpringFest, WinterFest)
• Promotion of Ecological Justice
“We must recognize the interlacing of life with life”—Felix Adler
We strive to understand human experience and to bring out the best in the human spirit.
The fullness and meaningfulness of life emerges from human experience. As members of a Movement not dependent upon revealed truths, we draw upon the whole of human experience as we attempt to define and create the good life. Science and religion, literature and the arts, economics and social studies are all avenues to expanding truth. The ultimate source of our standards and values, however, is our relationships with others.
It is a chief belief of Ethical religion that if we relate to others in a way that brings out their best, we will at the same time elicit the best in ourselves. By the "best" in each person, we refer to his or her unique talents and abilities that affirm and nurture life. We use the term "spirit" to refer to a person's unique personality and to the love, hope, and empathy that exists in human beings. When we act to elicit the best in others, we encourage the growing edge of their ethical development, their perhaps as-yet untapped but inexhaustible worth.
Examples of Ethical Societies activities in these areas:
• Numerous programs exploring science and the humanities to understand and enrich human experience: speakers, theater, film, travel, communication and art-related workshops
• Focused opportunities to experience relationship-building as a spiritual practice
“For secularists, nothing is sacred; for mystics, everything. Ethical Humanists, by contrast, hold that holiness is created by the manner in which a person meets the world.” – Arthur Dobrin
We celebrate the good life—the joy found in creative involvement with the human community and the natural world.
Our primary stance toward human existence is positive, though we recognize that there is sorrow and tragedy in life. We believe that happiness and meaning are created within human relationships; the good life is lived in concert with others, as together we develop our unique potentials to the fullest. We find the greatest passion and fulfillment when our sense of self, our relationships, our vocation and avocations, and our values and spirituality are integrated.
Examples of how Ethical Societies celebrate the good life:
• Music and other artistic expressions at all Ethical gatherings
• Festivals and ceremonies to mark personal milestones and communal accomplishments
• Memorials and remembrances
“We only live now, in this world, for the limit of our span, and therefore as religious humanists try to make our efforts count here, now, among the living rather than speculating about life after death. Because the tragedy is not to die, but not have lived a decent life, we emphasize the common humanity that joins people, rather than the divisions of creed, or class, or nationality.” – Mathew Ies Spetter
We are a nurturing, open fellowship in which the unique individuality of each is shaped within the interactions of mature, authentic relationships. We are a caring evolving community where a person’s inner life is cultivated and where his or her joys, sorrows, and dreams are shared and appreciated.
We believe that the primary goal of human life is the development of a unique ethical personality. This requires a healthy intellect and a healthy emotional and spiritual life, developed in the context of supportive, loving relationships; in the exuberance of collective social action; and in the silence of self-reflection.
Our daily interactions with others—especially our honest attempts to create a more ethical world—are the mirrors in which we can see our own worth and uniqueness. We mature only as our relationships mature; we are authentic only so far as we can be authentic with others.
Each person's journey through life deserves respect and attention. Societies seek to be environments in which people can share their experiences and aspirations.
Examples of how Ethical Societies develop ethical personalities:
• Guidance and training in deep listening and direct speaking
• Opportunities for collective social action
• Workshops in storytelling, both to explore ourselves and to develop connections with others whose own stories resonate with or are challenged by our own.
• Professional Ethical Society Leaders offer pastoral counseling to members.
“We seek, as Adler put it, to shift the orientation of the self off the personality, and into that space between ‘me’ and ‘we.’” --Curt Collier
We are a community that believes in the Ethical Culture religion and is committed to the Ethical Culture project— spreading the word that a life of ethical commitment is not just sufficient for meaningful living but is quite possibly the best there can be.
Ethical Culture seeks a living, dynamic, touchable faith found in the immediacy of human experience and a reverence for life. Our religious practice is the process of building common ground through shared inquiry and action, in support of universal worth and dignity. We are a religion of ethical engagement, of deed over creed.
Our shared faith is in the centrality of ethics, the inherent worth of human beings, and the importance of actively trying to create a more humane world by raising the level of human relating.
A life of ethical commitment is a life full of rich relationships, meaningfulness, integrity, and joy. It offers us a foundation for genuine happiness and allows us to sense our kinship to all of humanity.
Examples of how Ethical Societies operate as religious communities:
• By offering regular religious services that call us to our better selves
• Ceremonies such as baby namings, coming-of-age, marriages, and memorials.
• Events evoking the beauty and wonder of life
“The test as to whether people are religious has always been whether they did or did not believe in God. Now I should say there is a deeper test than that, and that is the belief in human beings, the belief in the spiritual nature of people. I have known many good people who believed in God. I have known many good people who did not believe in God. But I have never known a human being who was good who did not believe in people.” - John Lovejoy Elliott
It is an environment that confronts the commercialism and amorality of contemporary society with an optimistic vision of moral engagement.
Our belief in universal worth and dignity compels us to create an environment that allows ethical personality to grow and flourish; thus we are dedicated to social reform. We work to create a political, social, and economic environment that affirms the worth and dignity of all people. We seek to live within our means and to continually reassess how much is enough, to focus our lives on internal and interpersonal riches rather than external possessions.
Ethical religion offers a positive vision of a more humane world in which all people can develop their unique potentials within an ever-expanding web of mutually supportive relationships. When people actively wrestle to create a true sense of justice between each other, they become transformed by the power of the experience.
Examples of how Ethical Societies promote moral engagement:
• By encouraging a more ethically engaged life--one oriented toward justice, simplicity, ecology, and people over things
• By examining our social and ecological impact and supporting sustainable development and fair labor practices, and by being conscientious consumers and producers
“I must help others in order to save myself; I must look upon the other as an ethical unit or moral being in order to become a moral being myself”--Adler, Felix. An Ethical Philosophy of Life; Presented in its Main Outlines
Ethical culture calls all people to more decent lives that take into consideration the lives of others and is dedicated to social justice. This group has a public face that promotes values to the larger community.
Our recognition of the interdependent web of humanity calls us to respect and celebrate diversity, to practice ethical communication, and to deepen compassion and empathy. Ethical Societies are the spiritual common ground where we try to model the better world we envision.
At the same time, because a just society is necessary for individual worth and dignity to be upheld, we must reach beyond our walls. We offer social critiques and promote nonviolent policies, calling on all people and communities to become more just, more open, more caring. We urge a universal humility that would seek to build bridges and encourage constructive engagement.
We struggle to affirm the intrinsic worth of every person, even as we condemn unethical actions.
Examples of how Ethical Societies promote social justice:
• By teaching conflict-management and dialogue skills
• By offering public platforms for diverse voices
• By engaging in numerous social action projects and coalitions
We are a learning community where children and adults are engaged in the examination of their own lives and the life of their community. We are a Movement with accepted practices that reflect our commitment to the worth of each person and the group, practices befitting our commitment to the growth and fulfillment of each person.
Ethical Culture is an educational movement that helps people live more ethical and meaningful lives. Ethical Societies are lifelong learning laboratories in which knowledge from fields such as art, psychology, sociology, education, philosophy, and multiculturalism is explored through reflection, dialogue, and practice.
Ethical ideals develop when we experience caring and worth-affirming relationships. As practical religious communities, Ethical Societies support activities and traditions that help each member create a more fully committed and joyful ethical self.
The development of ethical personalities requires that we must walk our talk. At our Societies members strengthen their abilities to balance personal needs against the needs of others.
Examples of Ethical Society educational activities:
• Arts and storytelling workshops to help people find their unique moral voice and to claim their identity
• Creativity activities that demonstrate an appreciation for diversity
• Experiences that expand self-esteem, teach emotional intelligence and reasoning, and increase the motivation and personal power to act