Philadelphia Ethical Society

Long before Covid-19 ravaged the economy, millions of middle-class Americans were struggling with stagnant earnings, unaffordable healthcare, and the prospect of an impoverished retirement. This is no accident: in an updated and expanded edition of their New York Times #1 bestseller, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporters Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele explain with human stories and statistical findings how specific actions by Washington and Wall Street are systematically dismantling the middle classes.

Powerful truth from Leader Je Hooper, Ethical Evangelist!

Pennsylvania Nonbelievers is hosting a Zoom event tonight. https://facebook.com/events/s/pan-zoom-meeting/362256294992384/?ti=cl

Michael Moore has a well-earned reputation for rocking the boat for challenging the NRA, the healthcare industry, General Motors, and capitalism in general. But he, along with director Jeff Gibbs, outraged many progressives when he criticized the environmental movement in his 2019 documentary, "Planet of the Humans". Given the urgency of environmental stewardship, Hugh Taft-Morales investigates this controversy. Did Moore do a public service by creating this work, or did the film set environmentalism back through it’s claim that environmental groups were in the pocket of financiers from corporate America?

KEEP LIV'N ANNOUNCEMENT: Join me TUESDAY NIGHT at 8pm ET with Hugh Taft-Morales, Clergy-leader within the Ethical Culture Movement. Many have asked to go dee...per in exploring "Give em da first draft". Well, join me Tuesday as Hugh and I talk further and tease out some points I made from part 1. Let's find out what's involved when we are in devotion with our truth. FEEL FREE TO SHARE! See you soon!! #keeplivn #frequencyhouse #aesthetictheology #creativespirit #kindredspirits #wetooarelove #blackperformer #blackpreacher #blackness #blackboyjoy #blackproducer #blackclergy #fearnot #panafrican #EthicalCulture #queerlove #queerart #queercreative #phdlife #mylife #lgbt #2spirit #pansexual #polylove #polyboy #ployamory #freethinking #decolonizehumanism #blackhumanist

Starting next week: PEACE DAY PHILLY'S 10th YEAR!

Ten days before he died, Rep. John Lewis stood at Black Lives Matter Plaza opposite the White House looking as determined as he did at 23 years old speaking at the March on Washington. All his life his gentle persona belied his strength, courage, and resiliency. Even when a storm threatened to tear his aunt’s home from the earth, John Lewis walked with the wind, hand-in-hand with 14 other children to hold down each corner when it began to lift. As the whirlwind of current events threaten to tear apart our foundation, let us remember some lessons taught by someone Barack Obama eulogized as a man of pure joy and unbreakable perseverance.

Alain Locke is a thinker worth thinking about! Join Je Hooper's course this September!!!

Hugh Taft-Morales, Leader of the Philadelphia Ethical Society, invites you to two interfaith events part of Peace Day Philly 2020! The first is offered by Interfaith Philadelphia and occurs from 5:00-7:00PM on Thursday, September 17. Whether you embrace a traditional faith or are a humanist, or call yourself an atheist, we need to build a better world in cooperation with each other. Become an interfaith ally! https://bit.ly/InterfaithAlly A second great program is earlier... that same week: 9/15, 7-8pm: Seeking Understanding and Reconciliation in Times of Upheaval: The Interfaith Journey of the Philadelphia Peace Walk: http://bit.ly/interfaithwalk. Please be a part of this important connective work.

Dan is an inspiration in my work at the Philadelphia Ethical Society. I wrote about him for my 400 Years project last year. Read this Washington Post article and then visit my piece at https://www.400years.today/ar/blog-36nbsp400-years-is-today.

400Years.today project - see: https://www.400years.today/ July 2020 Blog - On "Patriotism" Almost four years ago Colin Kaepernick took a knee to protest the bla...tent police killing of Black people. Retired Army Green Beret Nate Boyer, someone who most Americans would call a patriot, suggested to the 49er quarterback that kneeling was respectful. But many attacked Kaepernick as unpatriotic, and for that his career was derailed. Kaepernick insisted, I’m not anti-American. I love America. For Kaepernick, a relatively privileged Stanford graduate and epitome of the American dream, taking a knee got national attention. For Patrisse Cullors, who grew up poor, black, and female, to make a difference, she founded a movement: Black Lives Matter, three simple words that earned her the label of "terrorist." And yet this past 4th of July weekend our hater-in-chief spouted racism in front of mount Rushmore, and years ago suggested to NFL owners this way of dealing with anyone who took a knee during our National Anthem - "get that son of a bitch off the field." Black Americans always had to work harder to prove their patriotism. W. E. B. DuBois worked hard to rally 380,000 Black Americans to fight for a nation that was seeing a spike of lynchings around World War I. Langston Hughes worked hard during WWII to put into verse the question many of the 1 million service people of color may have asked, How long I got to fight both Hitler and Jim Crow? Black Americans have long worked hard to explain why a critique of white supremacy so often must be a part of patriotism for them. In Notes of a Native Son, James Baldwin, explained: I love America more than any other country in the world, and, for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually. Those who were kidnapped from Africa and manuered American soil with their blood, as historian Lerone Bennett Jr. puts it, have died many times over for our nation. Today, Black leaders are living their patriotism by continuing to put their lives on the line in public protests. Reverend Jesse Jackson, who I met outside of Philadelphia City Hall during the Occupy Protests, knew that patriotism can be strenuous, can make some feel uncomfortable. He wrote, true patriots invariably disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed, and are persecuted in their lifetimes even as their accomplishments are applauded after their deaths. We must never relinquish our sense of justice for a false sense of national pride. Consider these actions. Do they seem reasonable and/or effective examples of anti-racism activism? Action #1: If you are socially isolating, defend the rights of protestors and the importance of pushing for radical change when friends or relatives harshly condem those gather in the streets to protest despite the pandemic. Remember racism is a social pandemic. Action #2: Support the Movement for Black Lives and its efforts to defend the rights of protestors, including demanding that: a) violations of property should never be equated with the violation of human life; b) that local and state officials ensure that there are no abuse of powers; and, c) that there should be no use of lethal force on protestors. Action #3: Learn about and support the American Civil Liberties Union’s efforts to defend the right to protest and disinvest in policing and to end police-prosecutor co-dependence that reinforces systemic racism in our criminal justice system. I encourage you to watch my July 5, 2020, 30-minute talk mostly on protests for Black Lives Matter titled, The Ethics of Patriotism; as well as reading blogs I wrote last year related to this topic: Blog #27: What, to Black People, is the 4th of July?, and Blog #45: Black Veterans: Punished for Serving.

Joe Chuman, Leader of the Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County, just got an op-ed published yesterday in the Hill. Please share it with others. https://thehill.com//502590-america-doesnt-have-a-police-p

Sustainable real change now!