Washington Ethical Society

"Collective Liberation or Bust, Voting Rights is a Must" Pablo DeJesus Pablo DeJesus, Executive Director for UU’s for Social Justice, will invite us to re-commit to the shared work of creating a just and sustainable democracy for all.

Principles of Community Building Lyn Cox, Interim Leader. Forming communities to bring out the best in each other and to help shape the world toward liberation is not only an Ethical Culture ideal, it was something Paolo Friere spoke about in his educational work in Brazil and Chile. As we embrace the possibilities for 21st-century community, ideas about groups who learn and humanize each other through dialogue, ideas about resisting paternalism, and ideas about creatively and actively meeting a changing and fluid world all have renewed significance.

Re-Imagining Community Lyn Cox, Interim Leader. We are in an era of hurry up and wait. We have begun the journey to a post-COVID world, discovering what the new normal looks like in different parts of our lives, little by little. We are caught up in the urgent social justice concerns and life changes that have never left us. We struggle with frustration and a sense of urgency, yet the deeper waters of wisdom lead us to build community in ways that are collaborative, imaginative, and sustainable.

The Book of Life Lyn Cox In this season when our Jewish neighbors are celebrating the High Holidays, we seek a Humanist frame for renewal. By returning to sources of strength and resilience, maintaining a practice of reflection, and connecting with the best in each other, we find the energy to turn the page into another chapter of our community life.

Many Stones Can Form an Arch Lyn Cox, Interim Leader. Practicing a philosophy that focuses on human solutions to human problems, we look for inspiration in stories about people coming together to achieve important things, despite obstacles like racism or anti-immigrant sentiment or economic disparities. The labor movement can provide a few such examples.

"Seven Gates" Lyn Cox The ancient story of Inanna’s descent to and return from the underworld has common threads with other myths, including the importance of collaboration. Even in a heroic epic story, people need each other.

"This Refulgent Summer" Lyn Cox, Interim Leader. Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Divinity School Address urges listeners to heed direct experience and creative spontaneity. The Transcendentalists tried to balance savoring the world with changing the world. Though some like Felix Adler rightly criticized the Transcendentalists for doing too much of one and not enough of the other, there might yet be inspiration available to help us do both.

"Finding Our Way Through: WES’s Path to Dual Affiliation with the UUA & AEU" Sunday, August 15, 10:30am John Daken, Lyn Cox, Perry Beider Perry Beider and John Daken look back on the discernment process that led to WES’s decision to affiliate with both the UUA and the AEU. Interim Leader Lyn Cox adds thoughts on how our institutional relationships have deepened since 2008.

Question Box Lyn Cox Bring your questions about philosophy, theology, dinosaurs, and what connects us to this spontaneous, collaborative Platform with Interim Leader Lyn Cox.

Where Love and Justice Cross All Borders Sunday, July 25, 10:30am Immigration Justice Team, Patti Absher, Refugee Resettlement Team, Ross Wells, Sue Smith WES members who have volunteered in immigration justice, refugee resettlement, and similar movements of solidarity will reflect on putting their values into action and on what WES members might do together next.

"Taking Action for the Earth" Earth Ethics Action Team Members of the Earth Ethics Action Team will reflect on ways they have collaborated with each other, our partner organizations, and the planet to move toward environmental justice.

Understanding Religion in the 21st Century Sunday, July 11, 10:30am Peter Bishop Though not all WES members self-identify as “religious,” religious Humanism is the closest label we have for a community like this one that gathers for mutual support, discerning values, raising children, and marking life passages without regard for creed or dogma. The old ways of understanding what religion is will have to change if communities that provide this kind of support and connection are to survive. WES member Peter Bishop will offer his perspective on how communities gathered under the AEU and UUA umbrellas are leading this necessary change, based in his studies of philosophy.

"This Is What Democracy Looks Like" Abi Daken, Brennan Barber, Kate Lang WES members who have engaged in voter mobilization and other pro-democracy efforts will speak about collaborating for the common good.

Ethical Systems and Us Christian Hayden How do we establish our approach to, and what guides us in, ethical interaction with the world? Join Christian Hayden, Leader in Training, in learning about the different ways we engage in ethical/moral reasoning.

Building Relationships of Power through Solidarity Amy Vruno, Washington Interfaith Network

Laughing Spirit Lyn Cox, Interim Leader. Laughter (the deep, personal growth kind) emerges at the return of vitality. It can be an affirmation of survival after a harrowing experience. It can be a breath of peace when the truth is revealed. The wisdom side of laughter comes at times of renewal, relief, and realization.

Founder’s Day Lyn Cox & WES Members Remembering the pride and the puzzles from our past will help members decide what kind of community to be in the present and what to strive for in the future.

A Mother’s Grief Sunday, May 9, 10:30am Lyn Cox The tradition of Mother’s Day was initiated by Julia Ward Howe as a protest against state violence. In those days, the violence was rooted in war, yet in our days as tanks and teargas enter the streets against our own citizens, there is a direct line of tradition that makes Mother’s Day a powerful day to resist state-sponsored violence. Our grief leads us to raise our voices against murder by police; the community impact of the criminal legal system; and the ways parenting, childhood, and family life are disrupted by over-investment in carcereal approaches to safety. While our collective grief is a motivator for change, we remember that the individual grief of families who have lost loved ones is also real, and we make room in our hearts and our actions for community care in the wake of trauma. Police violence has taken too many people from their families. The grief of those families and the communities who embrace them fuels our commitment to change, and we mu

Ideally, our communities lay the groundwork for us to become our best selves. With room enough to make mistakes and grow from them, some tolerance for the discomfort of growing pains, and feedback grounded in truth and love, our communities can help us to bloom.

Environmental Justice in Indian Country and Moving Toward a Transformational Land Ethic Dina Gilio-Whitaker The talk highlights the author’s main ideas from the book As Long As Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice from Colonization to Standing Rock, and leans into ideas from a forthcoming book. Dina Gilio-Whitaker (Colville Confederated Tribes) is a lecturer of American Indian Studies at California State University San Marcos, and an independent consultant and educator in environmental justice policy planning. At CSUSM she teaches courses on environmentalism and American Indians, traditional ecological knowledge, religion and philosophy, Native women’s activism, American Indians and sports, and decolonization. She also works within the field of critical sports studies, examining the intersections of indigeneity and the sport of surfing. As a public intellectual, Dina brings her scholarship into focus as an award-winning journalist as well, contributing to numerous online outlets inc