Ethical Views December 2005 Vol. 120, No. 4 Newsletter of the Philadelphia Ethical Society

December PlatformsSunday, December 4Platform: Richard Kiniry, Leader ofthe Philadelphia Ethical Society, willspeak about “Living in Faith.”Is “people of faith” just anotherdescription of fanatics? Faith as a life-stance brings that religious notion downto earth but is faith still an excuse forgiving up thinking? And should weEthical Humanists be actively trying tolive a life of faith?

Sunday, December 11Platform: The Honorable RenéeCardwell Hughes will speak on a topicto be announced. She is a trial judge inthe Court of Common Pleas, the FirstJudicial District of Pennsylvania whichencompasses the City of Philadelphia.Judge Hughes has served in the TrialDivision of the court, since herappointment to the bench in 1995 byGovernor Tom Ridge. She was electedto a full ten year term beginningJanuary, 1996. She has handled bothcivil and criminal proceedings. Her civilcaseload has covered a broad range ofcivil proceedings, including mass torts,asbestos litigation, products liability, andmedical malpractice. Judge Hughes hasalso presided over a wide variety ofcriminal cases including homicides,rapes, and other major felonies.

Sunday, December 18Platform: Join us for our WinterSolstice Program of candlelight, poetry,music and inspirational readings,orchestrated by leader Richard Kiniryand presented by members and friendsof the Philadelphia Ethical Society. Ourcommunity comes together to offerwarmth and comfort to each other as weface the cold months ahead and tocelebrate the beauty of the season. Allare welcome.

Sunday, December 25There will be no platform.

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The shopping season is upon us. Wemay not believe any of the storiesconnected with the holidays but we arestill expected to prove our affection forfamily and friends by buying stuff. Iknow I already have too much stuffand even the children in my worldhave more clothes, toys, and gamesthan they will ever get to use.

A couple of years ago I went thoroughmy house packing up all the clutter. Ifilled three boxes without trying butrefilled the place with new clutter inno time. Friends bring back presentsfrom vacations, my birthday elicits abook or a nice shirt, and the Holidaysarrive with more stuff I could livewithout. Of course, I am my ownworst enemy. I can not walk past apiece of blown-glass without fingeringmy credit card. I keep promising thatI’m going to move into a loft, an allwhite loft, with room for just a bed anda couple chairs - no room for prettythings or Cuisanart attachments.

The holiday season is a prime exampleof how materialistic we have become.For believers, the mythical stories thatsupposedly engender the holidays areevents with religious significance. Butthose stories include a large dose ofmagic. Besides a virgin birth andmagic oil, there is a gift-giving oldman from the North Pole and areindeer with a stop light for a nose.So, the religious stories become an

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Leader’sMessageKEEP X INCHRISTMAS

by Richard Kiniry

Report on RecentEthics in Action

During September and October,members and friends of theEthical Society wereencouraged by the EthicalAction Committee (EAC) tobecome engaged in a variety ofactions that expressed themembers’ concerns for ourcommunity, and for positivesocial change. Efforts included:(1) Supporting through petitionand Board endorsement for acampaign by the Clean WaterAction and the Community /Labor Refinery TrackingCommittee. Their aim is to haveour local Sunoco refinery ceaseusing the very deadly hydrogenfluoride in its refining process;(2) Contacting US House ofRepresentatives to block theattempt to cut important socialservices in order to pay some ofthe costs of Katrina instead ofrescinding recent "temporary"tax cuts; (3) Helping withmaintenance and clean up atCamp Linden; and (4) Providingeach of the Robert MorrisCharter School's 3rd graderswith his or her own dictionary.

The Ethical Action Committee ofthe Society will continue to makesuggestions at the Sundayplatforms about actions wemight want to take in unison forgreater impact. You can alsofind suggestions in the AmericanEthical Union's monthly EthicalAction Report, copies of whichare available on the Society'snotice table in the lobby.

Please give the EAC feedback onthe related actions you take andyour assessment of results, careof Nick Sanders, EACChairperson.

(Leader’s Message continued)occasion for more magic - giftsmagically falling into our laps. Ofcourse, to perform the magic you needa credit card that will produce someblack magic down the road.

Giving can be very satisfying butbeing forced to give takes some of thejoy out of the giving. And sinceeveryone we actually know alreadyhas too much, you have to be clever tofine some bauble that will please.

Well, this year I’m giving myselfpermission to be true to my beliefs. Ihave always given some presents thatwere contributions to the needy or to acause, and I have decided it is time tobe consistent and give only meaningfulgifts. I may kill some of the magic ofthe season but that is a side benefit ofintentional giving.

I could decide not to participate at alland announce that I will neither givenor receive holiday gifts, but that is abit too high-handed and holier-than-thou. Actually my sentiments are notso unique and there is a growing trendamong people tired of the meaninglessgiving who are looking for a betterway. Charitable groups are offering usopportunities to give presents that giveto others. You can present your familyand friends with cards informing themthat in their name you have bought acow for a family in Bangladesh or feeda Native-American family. And thereare always home-made gifts - rumballs or a bird house.

Our materialistic culture finds endlessways of manipulating our behavior andwe have to work at freeing ourselvesfrom its clutches. The holidays seasonis a perfect time to think about whatwe are doing as we go forth into theworld of jingling cash registers. It istime for more imaginative giving, giftsthat both express our values and mightalso push someone closer to theirbetter selves. <>

Having planned to write this article onthe outbound trip, while waiting formy train this morning, I wandered intothe book store to find a nice sailingmagazine for my ride home. Theyhad, once again, rearranged themagazines on the shelves so I foundmyself standing there scanning thetitles looking for a likely suspect. Slowly, I became aware of the hugevariety of topics being presented tome. I don’t know what was differentthis time; I often get the exact oppositereaction, every thing is just a differentangle on the same thing, mostly someform of light weight gossip. Whatreally got me was the almostintentional contrasts, perhaps the stockperson was a surreptitious literaturegrad student with an eye for the ironic.

There was “Spiritual Writing”promising help to “Share your faiththrough fiction, essays articles andmore.” That was next to the UTNEReader with an issue on charity aidand emergency giving. On the face ofit, the faith-based mag was toutinghow to capitalize on faith for personalgain while the sectarian mag wastelling us how to make sure everyoneis taken care of, if just enough. On thenext rack down was NationalGeographic with the banner “TheSecrets of Living Longer.” I thought ita nice contrast to the above. On theone hand the Christians proclaim torevel in the hereafter, not the here andnow, yet clearly seek temporalimprovement. So the Christians wouldhave no need for information on livinglonger for they are going to liveforever, in heaven. The secularists arepromoting equal and fair treatment inthe here and now, they are promotingliving longer in another sense, livinguntil next month, next week, ortomorrow. Yet I’m sure that of the

three National Geographic has thewidest circulation and most namerecognition.

Turning to the left was a rack ofmagazines with rock and roll andmusic on the top, photographicmagazines occupied the middle andtheir covers featured some really,really nice nudes. Then, stuck downon the bottom of the rack was “HighTimes” dedicated to marijuana usage. So there you have it, American cultureon display in a magazine rack, readfrom bottom up - “Drugs, Sex, andRock & Roll.” How iconic, or ironic?

On the right rack was testosteroneterritory: surfing, skate boarding, cars,outdoor sports, and boating. Ah yes,one lonely mag about sailing, but alasI had already read it. And on the nextrack? Well, we won’t go there. Allthe covers were discretely coveredwith opaque sleeves and they wereshoved deep down into special highprofile holders with only the titlespeeping out winking at us.

So what did I buy? “SpiritualWriting” because its banner was “Howto write to inspire.” And Heavenknows I needed inspiration to help getme through this mornings writingassignment. And National Geographicbecause I too, a lowly secularist, wantto live for ever. Selfish? Perhaps, butthen I tend to ascribe to thephilosophy that, if we are truly honestwith ourselves, all of our acts aredriven by some selfish desire.

To be fair “Spiritual Writing” hadsome good articles on writing tips andtechniques, if read for it’s technicalmerit alone. National Geographic hadan article on Adventists with the tagline that “Regular churchgoers appearto live as much as two years longerthan non-churchgoers.” I think it isthe community support or maybe it isthe idea that if we are part of God’sChosen then we must deserve to liveand consequently take better care ofourselves. In any case and until next month; goforth and prosper. <>

President’sMessage

by Howard Peer

Sunday, October 23rd

Sunday, October 30th

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Kenneth J. Campbell

Sunday, November 6thFrom his platforms of the past two months, our leader, Richard Kiniry, continued an unfolding of a "new religiousenvironment" -- one in which every person is purported to be a person of honor. Richard clarified that he was not talkingabout the type of honor that is reflected in the eyes of others, as with an award or being pleased with being called on toperform some service. Neither was his meaning coming from doing any given religion's conception of God's will. To thecontrary, he was talking about the honor that exists when one is true to one's original and natural self as a loving humanbeing. This type of honor is, in fact, often subverted by religions that promote individual salvation and, more generally, bysocial systems that foster individual accumulation of wealth and status. Richard's message is that our options for self-expression are often limited by prevalent notions of honor, whereas we should be developing the honor of true selfexpression. — Nick Sanders <>

Jon Shure during a talk back at the Philadelphia Ethical Society

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Platforms at 11:00AM, Sundays

Coffee Hour & Discussionfollow the Platforms.

Musical interludes performed byPianist Tim Ribchester.

Childcare provided at no charge.

All are welcome!

A REMINDEREach Sunday there is time during thePlatform for "My Ethical Culture". This is aspace (3 to 5 minutes) for members to offertheir personal take on Ethical Humanism’sapproach to life. On Sundays when we don’thave a personal version from one of you,we find an inspiring quote. If you areinterested in presenting your version of "MyEthical Culture," speak to Richard and hewill find a date for you.

Could

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Jon Shure, President of New Jersey Policy Perspective, said that in order to restorethe values we care about, we must understand the ways in which the political/culturalclimate has changed. We need to be proactive in order to create a society that takescare of each other, that helps each person achieve his or her full potential. Hesuggested two tactics: (1) Engage – Speak up when you hear someone make anoutrageous statement. Don’t be polite, be political. Be confident (even arrogant) inpresenting your views. (2) Frame – Learn to shape the terms of a debate and to putthings in ways that people whom you wish to persuade can relate to. Don’t letsomeone else define you and your feelings. Don’t let them take your words and turnthem into something else. For example, instead of examining whether Welfareworked or not, the premise of the debate was that it did not work. Thus, theunfortunate outcome. Social Security threatens to go the same way. The battle is indefining such issues before the debate begins. —Janice Moore

Kenneth J. Campbell, the Director of the International Relations Program at theUniversity of Delaware, spoke to the issues of the U.N.’s relevancy. His opening wordsset the tone, by suggesting that the U.N. is the only option the world has, therefore itmust work. He explained that the U.N. is the newest in a long history of internationalorganizations concerned with peace, and pointed out that the recent failures in Somalia,Rwanda, and Bosnia failed largely because the organizations’ actions were blocked bymembers of the U.N. Security Council. He pointed out that the notion of “the world introuble” is a myth, and cited specific research on the decline of genocides, deaths perwar, etc. (www.humansecurityreport.info). The only cause of war, he said, is profit,whether it be a warlord in Somalia or a Texas oil man (my words there). In closing, Dr.Campbell, who was inspired to study these subject by his experience in the Vietnam War,declared that we are entering a new era. The world must decide for unity or chaos.Luckily, he said, history is on the U.N.’s side. — John Hall

SUNDAY MORNING VOLUNTEERS

Ushers – Arnold Fishman, Chair

Rick Zorger, Richard Kiniry, JoeMonte,Saul Machles and John Hall

Flower Dedications - Ken Greiff, Chair

December 4 Betsy Lightbourn “To mylife partner and co-conspirator DaleDrews in honor of his birthday.”

December 11 Henry Pashkow “Inhonor of all the good friends I'vemade at the Ethical Society over theyears.”

December 18 Amber Anderson "HappyBirthday to Shawn O'Brien, the love ofmy life!”

Greeters - Saul Machles, Chair

December 4 Irene Putzer

December 11 Saul Machles

December 18 Carole Erb

Coffee Hour Hosts - Harry Thorn, Chair

November 6 John Hall

November 13 Harry Thorn

December 18 Naomi Poses

Coffee Hour Lunch

November 6 Doris Leicher and Howard Peer

November 13 Jean Bradley

December 18 Ken Greiff and Janice Moore

—•―

December 25 No platform

VOLUNTARY SIMPLICITYIn age of materialism and consumption as a way of life, we areforced to question are own lifestyles. Being ethical no longermeans just being honest and good-hearted. How do the choiceswe make effect the earth and the billions of people living inpoverty? If you are interested in making your life more environ-mentally friendly and socially responsible, this is the group foryou. On November 30th we will be going in a slightly differentdirection by discussing the practical financial ideas found in thebook, Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominques and Vicki Robin.

Fourth Wednesday of the month, December 28, 7:30 PM

THE HISTORY OF ETHICS

This is a lively discussion group. We have been examiningthe evolution of ethical systems through history. Presently weare discussing Arthur Dobrin’s book, Ethical People andHow they Got that Way (available at the Society).

Third Thursday of the month, December 22, 7:30 PM

GET TO KNOW USSOCIAL

WednesdayDecember 7th

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Shawn O’Brien and AmberAnderson at Camp Linden

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Dale Drews and BetsyLightbourn at the Ethical Society

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1 2 3

411:00 AM Platform

Richard Kiniry

Living in Faith

75 6 7

GET TO KNOWUS SOCIAL

7:30 PM

8

Dale Drews

9 10

1111:00 AM Platform

The HonorableRenée Cardwell

Hughes

12 13 14Meetings

Weston Room

6:30 PM-EthicalAction Committee

7:30 PM-EducationCommittee

15 16 17

WINTERSOLSTICE

SUPPER ANDCELEBRATION

7:00 PM

1811:00 AM

Winter SolsticeCandlelightCelebration

19 Meeting7:30PMCampLinden

Board atPES

20 21 Meeting

Weston Room7:30 PM

Board of Trustees

22 ClassWeston Room

7:30 PMHistory of

Ethics

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25No Platform

26 27 28Class

Weston Room7:30 PM

VoluntarySimplicity

29 30 31

RichardKiniry

(on the 14th) >

Birthdays

JesseZelnick

RobertaWoodRobertaWood

BerthaWaters

(on the 21st)>

Carole AnnRiddle

(on the 28th)>

Bob Moore

HowardCallaway

WINTER SOLSTICESUPPER AND CELEBRATION

Saturday,December 17, 2005

7:00 PM

Mark your calendars for our exciting holiday party. In addition to party activities, we will also have our mitten tree, whichyou can decorate with mittens, gloves, scarves, or hats for donation to the needy.

We do appreciate your signing up to attend and/or to bring a dish. The price of admission is $5 if you bring a dish, $10 ifyou don't.

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Ethical Views is published monthlyexcept July and August.

Editor, John Anderson HallLayout and Photo Editor,

Janice MooreDistribution, Jean BradleyWeb Master, Bob Moore

Philadelphia Ethical Society

Richard Kiniry, Leader

Board of TrusteesHoward Peer, President

Temma Fishman,Vice PresidentJeffrey Dubb, MD, Treasurer

Jean Bradley, SecretaryArnold Fishman

Saul MachlesBob MooreLyle MurleyIrene Putzer

Lew Wilkinson─────────────────

(215) 735 - 3456philaes@prodigy.net

www.phillyethics.net

Philadelphia Ethical Society1906 South Rittenhouse Square

Philadelphia, PA 19103

One of our newest members, Mary Scholl, and her fiance, Rick Fonda, exchangedwedding vows at the Ethical Society on October 29th. In the receiving line, they arecongratulated by a guest and are seen later, cutting their wedding cake.