Washington Ethical Society

Springtime often makes us think of organizing our closets. But what about our community? Our neighborhood? Amanda shares her experiences with the Washington Interfaith Network and what she's learned about community organizing. She explores its resonance with Ethical Culture principles, and considers what it might mean for WES to catch the organizing spirit.

In this season when so many religious traditions celebrate renewal, Amanda offers an Earth Day platform that examines the possibility of rebirth in the face of death. She considers climate change and catastrophic environmental degradation--in the context of hope!

As we mark another tax day, we also mark another year of DC's taxation without representation. Amanda will explore what this means for us as an ethical community and especially for one located in the District.

Fritz probes the mystery of one of our most important human attributes. He examines the widely held theory that incongruity holds the ey to what we find funny, and ventures into the dark side of humor and the relationship between comedy and the cosmic joke.

Amanda explores America's economic system and how it does--and doesn't--serve our need for justice in the world. She also examines the value-worth paradigm in Ethical Culture, and talks about justice in our own congregational economic picture.

It's been several years since Prince William County, VA, the home of Rev. Ladd's congregation, served as a flashpoint of controversy regarding local enforcement of federal immigration law. She tells the story of what happened in Prince William County and relates the spiritual and communal price they continue to pay in exchange for immigration enforcement on the local level.

In the final part of a series exploring Adler's spiritual pains, Amanda examines the struggle every person faces between the values we profess...and the lives we actually lead. Very few of us behave just as we would to in every moment of our lives--and yet we must somehow take those very disappointments and use them as the building blocks of our next attempts. How do we move forward in life when we can never be fully who we wish we were?

In the second of a series on Adler's three spiritual pains, Amanda focuses on how we experience the suffering of those around us. Drawing on wisdom from world religions, particularly Buddhism, Amanda imagines how this "spiritual pain" might have influenced Ethical Culture's early social justice work and how it motivates our work as individuals and a community today.

Ethical Culture founder Felix Adler identified three spiritual pains as the basis for the religious impulse. In a three-part series, Amanda explores first our sense of insignificance in a huge universe. How does this pain play out in our own lives? How does it motivate our need for community and meaning?

A. Powell Davies, probably the most important minister in the almost 200-year history of Unitarianism in the DC region, dreamed of creating a coalition of religious liberals. But that dream has proven difficult to realize. Rev. Marshall shares the history and development of two such organizations of religious liberals in Washington: Unitarians and Universalists. What kepm them apart, and what finally brought them together?

As we celebrate our annual Pay Attention to Love celebration, Amanda focuses on one of the more difficult aspects of love: what we do when our hearts are broken. What is the ethical response to a broken covenant? What about when we ourselves are the breakers? Amanda explores covenants large and small and in all arenas of our lives, looking at current writing on relationships as well as philosophical approaches.

Amanda delivers the second of two platforms "won" at last year's auction. This time around, she's been challenged to speak about sex--a subject often taboo in religious communities but vital to our lives. Amanda explores the concept of "ethical sex," as she wonders what, if anything, makes some sex unethical.

One of the hallmarks of our religious movement is our willingness to stop out into unexplored territory and be open to new possibilities. Because of the nature of our work, most religious communities give their clergy a sabbatical so that we can replenish our inner resources and rekindle our calling. As she begins her sabbatical, Mary explores what stepping out of the current might mean to each of us.

The most-used definition of fundamentalists may be "those people who disagree with me." But fundamentalism is a particular way of understanding the world and especially truth. What draws people to fundamentalism? And what can bring them back from the brink?

At our annual service celebrating the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we explore how we live up to his dream for his four little children. How do we create a community where our children learn anti-racist values? Amanda is joined by WES members reflecting on their own experience.

The longing to offer our compassion and assistance to others is part of being human. But despite our good intentions to help others, we often hold back because we don't know what to do or say, or are afraid to intrude. Even when we overcome our hesitations we sometimes find that we have made things worse with our attempts to help. What are some genuinely helpful ways we can serve, support, and encourage those in need?

On this Sunday in December, we gather to celebrate the coming of winter and to explore the meaning of Christmas in the humanist context.

"The world is my country. To do good is my religion." These words from Thomas Pain inspire us to make connections with people beyond our borders and help create a more just and loving world. Members of WES's Global Connections Committee explore how our new sister-community relationship with El Rodeo, El Salvador, is an expression of our highest ideals.

WES member Peter Bishop offers a follow-up to Amanda's science and religion platform on August 1, 2010.

The Harry Potter series is one of the most successful in the history publishing and filmmaking. What makes these stories so compelling? Amy argues that the ethical dilemmas explored are as important to the books' success as the magic wands. Amy Anderson is a member of the Northern Virginia Ethical Society.