Northern Virginia Ethical Society Leader's Blog

Is American Democracy Over? by Randy Best, NoVES Leader

Fri, 03 Oct 2025 02:08:44 GMT

This piece represents my thoughts. I realize that many NoVES members do not agree with my assessment and they are most welcome to do so. We are not a credal religion and my views do not need to be your views.

I look at the political landscape in America today and I think we are far down the path toward an authoritarian political system, farther than I was previously willing to admit. All of the menu items in the Authoritarian Playbook are manifest and I fear that the worst is yet to come.

I look at the list of steps toward authoritarianism and I can tick off all of the items. Here they are:
Politicizing independent institutions
Spreading disinformation
Aggrandizing executive power, weakening checks and balances
Quashing criticism or dissent
Scapegoating vulnerable communities
Corrupting elections
Stoking violence

The government and courts have been stacked with right wing adherents. Disinformation is rife to the point that truth has been reduced to competing opinions. Executive power expands daily, continuously reinforced by the Supreme Court, and there is little effective opposition in Congress.

Freedom of speech is under assault. In American Democracy, freedom of belief and speech are guaranteed by the Constitution’s First Amendment:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Yet President Trump has signed a National Security Directive which expands federal power to “disrupt” individuals or groups which “foment political violence,” including “before they result in violent political acts.” Trump plans to use law enforcement and the IRS to target NGO’s, funders, and other groups, that supposedly incite violence by espousing “anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity; support for the overthrow of the United States Government; extremism on migration, race, and gender; and hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family, religion, and morality.”

This National Security Directive runs counter to the First Amendment, at every level. Trumps egregious behavior would bring down any other President.

He is now free to label anyone as a terrorist. You can now be prosecuted for what you believe, organizations that you belong to, who you love. Trump’s National Security Directive allows law enforcement to detain anyone they choose under a vague, all-encompassing list of criteria.

Extreme actions have been launched based on false declarations of emergency. Destroying a successful economy with tariffs undertaken in the name of National Security. Gutting federal agencies under the guise of Efficiency. False accusations that cities are violent “hellscapes”, put forth to send National Guard Troops to cities that are actually safe, with levels of violent crime lower than it has been in decades. This is all about intimidation and setting the stage for future repression.

Universities are under assault. Financially, through withholding of grants, and politically, through insisting that Universities eliminate programs promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion. Many Universities are complying only to find an ever-increasing list of demands. Others are engaging in preemptive compliance hoping to avoid the President’s wrath.

Pretexts are found or created to persecute political enemies.

It is typical of Trump to accuse others of doing what he is in the process of doing, such as weaponizing the Justice Department. Trump has directed the Department of Justice to prosecute his perceived “enemies”.

Prosecutors were changed to find one politically zealous enough to indite former FBI Director James Comey. Letitia James, who successfully prosecuted Trump for fraud, is being investigated, as is former FBI Director Christopher Wray. Opposition politicians are also on his “list”.

Trump continues to encourage persecution of Trans people. This further devastates a group already mistreated by society. By attacking members of the most marginalized, most vulnerable community, he sets the stage for scapegoating others.

Violent rhetoric by Trump is common place. He has unleashed ICE on minorities claiming a disproven association between immigrants and crime.

The President is encouraging states to gerrymander congressional districts to maintain a Republican majority in Congress in the mid-term elections. I fear that some pretext will be created to postpone or cancel future elections.

I do not believe that the path to authoritarianism can be stopped. American Democracy has been compromised. I must deal with where we are and where we are going.

People are being doxed for expressing their views. People are being fired. I fear that arrests for speaking out against the regime are coming soon.

I am scared and intimidated by what is happening. I cannot let intimidation stop me from speaking out and doing what I believe is right. My silence will not keep me safe.

I need to acknowledge my fears yet see that I am not actually, personally under threat. I must use my privilege to reach out and support those who are under threat and have faced personal consequences from the Trump administration.

My humanist values of the worth and dignity of everyone stand in contrast to how the Trump administration is treating trans persons, immigrants, minorities, and government workers.

I must protest. I must contribute. I must help organize. I must resist. I must do what I can in small ways to help make a difference.

I do not know the way forward. I must work with others to find a way to support my values through actions. I encourage you to do the same.

American Violence

Fri, 19 Sep 2025 18:53:50 GMT

There is a lot of finger-pointing going on right now. On the right, VP Vance and others, accuse the left of fostering violence and being composed of violent extremists. The Department of Justice website removes a study indicating that politically motivated violence more often comes from right-wing extremists. Democrats decry violence from the right. President Trump is trying to outlaw ANTIFA, which is an ideology, not an organization with members. The truth is that in America, there is more than enough violence to go around.

Our country has more guns than people. Yes, the number of civilian-owned firearms surpasses America’s population. This does not make me feel more secure.

Violence is part of the fabric of America. Our country was founded through violent revolution and the land was taken violently from the native population. Our early economy was built through the violent system of slavery. We need to acknowledge our past and work for a better future.

Our American military projects power abroad through violence. Invading countries for regime change, drone attacks, targeted bombings, supplying sophisticated weapons to allies and surrogates, and recently, blowing up boats of purported drug smugglers.

Domestically, our president sends troops to occupy cities in a blatant show of force to intimidate the populace and win political points from his supporters. This purely performative safety does not make anyone safer. Crime rates are at recent historic lows in the cities where Trump has deployed troops.

Recent political violence provides a pretext for the current administration to silence political opponents and squelch free speech. Corporate Media is willing to bow to FCC pressure to cancel opposition voices in order to get FCC approval for further monopolistic media consolidation. Corporations show that they prioritize money over constitutional free speech.

Violence is an American scourge that our nation fails to address. Given the sheer number of citizens with guns and the gun lobby pouring funds into politicians’ coffers, sensible measures to curb gun violence appear to be out of reach.

Violence, perpetrating violence, and intimidating others are gross transgressions of human rights and violate my humanist values of affirming the worth and dignity of everyone.

Felix Adler, the founder of Ethical Culture, believed that we are all deeply connected to each other. Violence against anyone effects all of us. Violence is the supreme negation of human worth. Violence does not solve problems.

Gandhi believed that the ends and the means are inseparable. Pursuing a goal through corrupt means inevitably corrupts the ends. Using violence to achieve peace cannot work. Violence only leads to more violence.

I oppose violence in all its forms for any reason. I realize that this view is not held by most people in Ethical Culture and that is all right. Ethical Culture is not creedal or dogmatic. We do not need to agree with each other on everything. Each person’s individual ethical discernment may lead to different conclusions and must be respected.

To support my humanist values, I can vote for change. I can vote for those who view peace as a real alternative to violence. I can support a future where human rights and freedoms are placed above corporate greed.

I will work on my relations with others to cultivate compassion and caring.

Together we can work toward a better world. It seems impossibly far away but I will begin by taking small steps toward peace.

Yours in Ethical Community,

Randy Best, Leader

Northern Virginia Ethical Society

Course Offering on Adler's Life and Destiny

Thu, 26 Nov 2020 01:14:54 GMT

Dear NoVES Folks -

I am offering a three part course on Felix Adler's booklet, Life and Destiny, published in 1903. this course is being offered through the AEU.

It is an evening course on December 1, December 8, and December 15.

For more information check out the AEU website at:

https://aeu.org/event/foundations-of-ethical-humanism/

If you are interested, register now as spaces are rapidly filling up.

Randy Best

Ride Your Bike and Help Stop Hunger

Sat, 21 Nov 2020 22:33:01 GMT

Dear NoVES Community -

Take a bike ride between November 23rd and 30th and get $25 donated by CareFirst to community-based food programs run by Dreaming Out Loud.

I plan on participating in this program (multiple times) in the coming week. All I need to do is send documentation of my ride and the donation will follow.

Complete information about this program can be found at:

https://dcbikeride.com/pedal-4-a-purpose/

I hope some of you can participate too. Get on your bikes and ride!

Randy Best - NoVES Leader

AEU Statement on Supreme Court LGBT Discrimination Decision

Thu, 18 Jun 2020 15:13:39 GMT

Dear NoVES Members and Friends -

It is gratifying to see decisions come out of our current Supreme Court that I wholeheartedly support. The recent decision affirming LGBTQIA+ people protection from employment discrimination is certainly a major step to recognizing the worth and dignity of marginalized people. Here is the American Ethical Union's statement on this momentous decision.

In Love and Justice,

Randy

AEU Statement on Supreme Court

LGBT Discrimination Decision

The American Ethical Union (AEU) enthusiastically endorses the Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling in favor of gay, lesbian, and transgender people’s right to work free from discrimination. This ruling is a long overdue affirmation of the Constitutional and statutory rights of millions of citizens as guaranteed under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The ruling written by Justice Neil Gorsuch was straightforward and unambiguous: “We must decide whether an employer can fire someone simply for being homosexual or transgender. The answer is clear,” Gorsuch wrote. “An employer who fires an individual for being homosexual or transgender fires that person for traits or actions it would not have questioned in members of a different sex. Sex plays a necessary and undisguisable role in the decision, exactly what Title VII forbids.”

The AEU has long called for equality regarding sex, gender, orientation, and identity, including: Reaffirming Support for Equal Rights for Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender, and Queer People (2010); supporting Same-Sex Marriage (2004) and Legalization of Gay Marriage (1996); condemning discrimination against Homosexuals (in 1979 and 1972); and, calling for an end to Sex Discrimination (1971). This ruling moves our country one step closer to the day when the full dignity of LGBTQIA+ Americans is recognized in law.

We now call on the Department of Labor’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Department of Justice to step up their defense of the rights just reaffirmed by the highest court in the land. The AEU calls on the Trump Administration, which recently moved to ban transgender people from serving in the military and backtracked on medical protections for transgender Americans, to declare its intention to enforce this important ruling. We stress that no assertion of “religious freedom” should be allowed to enable employers to evade or ignore the intent of the court’s ruling. Further, we call for full protections for LGBTQIA+ people in public accommodations, healthcare, and every area of US life.

This is a day to celebrate an important step forward in the protection of the rights of all in the LGBTQ+ community—but much work remains to be done. The American Ethical Union cheers the decision in R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes Inc. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and celebrates the work of the lawyers and activists who made this day possible. At the same time, we dedicate ourselves to the fights still ahead. Discrimination against LGBTQIA+ people is an attack on their inherent worth and dignity, and should be outlawed in every sphere of life. Ethical Humanists continue to fight for a world in which LGBTQIA+ people are wholly free.

AEU Statement on George Floyd and the Aftermath

Mon, 01 Jun 2020 16:38:35 GMT

Dear members and Friends -

Many of you may have received the most recent AEU Statement in your e-mail. In case you have not had an opportunity to read it, here it is...

Yours in Ethical Community,

Randy

AEU Statement on George Floyd and the Aftermath

Another month, another murder of a black person by white police officers. This time it was George Floyd. When will this injustice end? How many times do the American people have to be confronted with videos of heavily-armed police officers brutally killing restrained and unarmed black men, women, and children before we find our moral voice? Shot in the back. Strangled in a choke-hold. Killed by a knee on the neck. How many more?

Police killed more than 1000 people last year, disproportionately black people and predominantly black men. George Floyd’s murder is yet one more demonstration of the intersection of two deadly systemic problems: deeply ingrained racism, which teaches white people to see black people as less worthy of dignity, respect, and even life; and a wholly unaccountable criminal justice system which is resistant to reform, and unwilling to take the measures proven to reduce killings by police. These problems lead to intolerable inhumanity. They prop up a racist status quo in which people of color, particularly black people, are told every day that their lives do not matter to many police officers and to many white people. The statistics are undeniable: black people are three times more likely to be killed by police than white people. They are more likely to be unarmed when they are killed. And officers are hardly ever held accountable for these killings, with only 1% of police who kill ever even being charged with a crime. Consequently, throughout this country police officers kill with virtual impunity, and communities of color bear the deadly cost of racism and unaccountability.

There are glimmers of hope. We welcome the fact that Derek Chauvin, the police officer who killed Floyd, was quickly fired, and has now been charged with murder. We now await and urge the charging of those who aided him in this crime, the three officers who stood by and failed to intervene while he killed a man on camera. Until police are held to the same criminal standard as all citizens – police are citizens, after all – there is no hope for justice for victims of police brutality. We further call for all police departments to implement the measures we know to reduce police violence. All police departments should require officers to: use all other reasonable measures to maintain the peace before using force, and especially deadly force; they should require the reporting of all uses of force; they should ban chokeholds and strangleholds; they should require de-escalation; they should require a warning before an officer shoots their firearm. It is shocking and sad that only a minute fraction of all the USA’s police departments have all these life-saving measures in place.

It is past time for a reckoning. People of conscience everywhere must reckon with our country’s history of racism, and recognize that a racist ideology was built into the very founding of this nation, and infects our thinking to this day. We must reckon with our broken criminal justice system, which prioritizes an illusion of safety conjured by the presence of heavily-armed police over the reality of justice, which only humane community-based solutions can provide.

We must reckon with our own complicity in a system which has prioritized white lives over black lives for centuries, and take to the streets, engage in the political process and, when necessary, protest for change. In the coming days we will see communities speak out in anger and even in rage. We may be scared and affronted by the ways in which oppressed communities express frustration with their oppression. Yet now is not the time to wag fingers: now is the time for action, to mobilize ourselves and our communities to end this deadly intersection of injustices in which we are all implicated, for the dignity of all.

Understanding Minnesota - by Randy Best

Sun, 31 May 2020 01:04:27 GMT

The murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis Police led to an uprising protesting Police violence and ongoing and systemic racial injustice.

Protests included burning a Police Station, property damage, fires, and looting businesses. It is hard for white people to understand the form, motivation, and purpose of these acts of protest and civil unrest.

I look to people of color for an increased understanding. Trevor Noah provided excellent insight in his video "George Floyd and the Dominos of Racial Injustice". Give it a look...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4amCfVbA_c&t=14s

Yours in Ethical Community,

Randy Best

Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire – from COVID-19 to the Climate Crisis

Sun, 03 May 2020 17:28:21 GMT

Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire – [Part 1]

OPENING REFLECTION

There are times when I am able to forget that I am living in a pandemic with social distancing and sheltering in place.

Right now is not one of those times. Although I participated in Zoom meetings before the pandemic, Zoom meetings have become my quintessential pandemic experience.

I forget the pandemic while wandering in the woods with my grandsons, absorbing the natural beauty that surrounds me. Being in the presence of boys three and five-years-old, I easily forget my cares and fears, for a moment, before they return to haunt my thoughts.

I am privileged to experience these moments of peaceful transcendence. Being in a position to briefly forget the challenges of a pandemic that is all too apparent in my daily life. Being able to pretend that the natural beauty that surrounds me, looking so strong and vibrant, is a permanent presence rather than an impermanent and fragile ecosystem, ultimately endangered by human activity.

Life in my house appears to be much the same, as long as I remain in my house. When I venture out, I see people maintaining distance from each other, wearing facemasks or bandanas. I am socially distanced, able to connect to some of my communities through computer conferencing though I remain estranged from others.

I know that my life is and will be forever changed by this pandemic. I can only imagine how this pandemic experience will affect my grandsons. I add this to the legacy that I give them – of a warming planet with rising sea levels becoming increasing hostile to supporting a human population.

I can reflect on the meaning of my experience because I have the mental band width to do so. I face remote and abstract existential threats, removed from my immediate concerns and everyday life. I am in a position to not worry about not having money to pay rent and feed my family. I am able to quarantine in comfort while so many others cannot.

Many struggle to survive day-by-day. People who lost their jobs or can’t afford healthcare. People who are homeless and cannot shelter in place. The pandemic brought all of this to the surface. It has raised my awareness about the inequality and injustice built-in to America’s way of life.

I am one of the lucky ones. Our household income dropped as Sarah’s Pottery Camps and Pottery sales at the Farmer’s market both shut down. We are lucky because we can access other resources to allow us to get by. Many can’t.

On a recent bicycle ride on a stunningly beautiful Spring day, I enjoyed cycling through downtown with sparse traffic. On Main Street, I passed a man who has a shoe-shine stand out on the sidewalk. He is often there. He took off his cap holding it out asking for help. I stopped my bike, dug my wallet out of my panier, and gave him a ten. He thanked me and said that he was 64 years old and he and his wife were having trouble getting by. I said, “I understand, I’m 65”, not really knowing why I gave my age. He asked when my birthday was. I said November. He told me his was in October. I wished him many more birthdays and went on my way.

I felt good to have done something but uneasy that I had not do enough. It felt good to make a simple, trivial, human connection. I live in a time when simple acts of kindness are acts of defiance to a system that marginalizes and dehumanizes too many of us.

After my ride, I returned to a home of comfort. I wonder where he would go that night.

During this Pandemic, I am occupying a new mental space. Affected yet not really affected. Isolated yet not really isolated. Shocked by the number of COVID-19 infections and death counts that have not touched me closely, yet. I offer some help and am disappointed that I have limits on the amount of financial commitment that I am willing to make. I remain safe while many are not.

I feel stuck with nowhere to go and unsure of what I should do. One thing that I can do, in my newfound isolation, is to try to make sense of it all.

Here is what I have come up with…

AMERICAN EMPIRE IN DECLINE

In the comfort of my quarantine, recently, I have been watching various YouTube documentaries on the Fall of Civilizations and Empires.

The Bronze Age, Roman Britain, Persia, Rome, Napoleon. This activity has not given me peace of mind. Looking at America today I began to think – I bet I know who’s next. Given the state of the world today, many factors are present that could lead to civilization’s collapse. Global pandemics, climate degradation, competition for resources, including food, and water. Wars for domination. The Climate Crisis. Racial and Ethnic violence.

Chris Hedges wrote:

"Empires fall a little bit at a time and then all at once. Over the last two decades, America has proven itself to be well along on that journey. The coronavirus pandemic has simply pushed our nation further along that downward spiral."

Writing in the Atlantic, George Packer described this woeful state of affairs:

"The crisis demanded a response that was swift, rational, and collective. The United States reacted instead like Pakistan or Belarus — like a country with shoddy infrastructure and a dysfunctional government whose leaders were too corrupt or stupid to head off mass suffering. The administration squandered two irretrievable months to prepare. From the president came willful blindness, scapegoating, boasts, and lies. From his mouthpieces, conspiracy theories and miracle cures. A few senators and corporate executives acted quickly — not to prevent the coming disaster, but to profit from it. When a government doctor tried to warn the public of the danger, the White House took the mic and politicized the message. Every morning in the endless month of March, Americans woke up to find themselves citizens of a failed state."

America is not what it was, or at least America is not what it was in the rearview nostalgia of our collective imagination.

Let’s not kid ourselves, the time for Making America Great Again has past – and don’t forget, America was never great for everyone. It is time to move on, to re-imagine a future of inclusion and sustainability.

America is a Nation in decline. This is evident in the inability of Congress to do just about anything. It took a Pandemic to crack the partisan wall. Even then, Corporations get billions while mere citizens get twelve hundred bucks. Relief? I don’t think so, more like business as usual.

Two of the things that prevent us from crawling out of the muck rising around us, are the abandonment of Truth and the denial of Expertise. These are not new trends in American society. Under the Trump Administration, Truth and Expertise have achieved new lows.

Our recent experience with the coronavirus pandemic illustrates perfectly how compromising Truth and Expertise endangers our health, our lives, and our future.

First, I will look at Truth.

ASSULT ON TRUTH

Trump lies. Constantly. Incessantly. Shooting from the hip and making it up as he goes along. The sycophants that he surrounds himself with, Fox News, and Republican Officials, all scurry to reinterpret and explain his egregious statements.

Challenging and fact-checking Trumps tweets and pronouncements is exhausting. This is exactly the point. Trump has succeeded in wearing out Truth. Truth has become vapor ware – elusive, ephemeral. Once Truth is lost, so goes accountability. Facts become irrelevant. Reality open to whatever construction those in power determine it to be.

I am experiencing a re-framing of my expectations. I now expect most everything that Trump says to be a lie. I am becoming increasingly numb to misinformation. I don’t think that my reaction is unique. This is viewed as success by those who seek to misinform me.

Does it matter if Truth was long ago thrown under the bus? Just what is the cost?

Josh Gletzer wrote in Slate Magazine:

"… it matters that the president keeps lying. When Americans head to the polls in November to decide whether President Donald Trump deserves a second term, they will be voting for or against radically different President Trumps. In part because he lies so fluently and easily, some people will vote based on what Trump says he’s done, and others will vote based on what he’s actually done—and the gap between the two is perilously wide.

Many Americans—understandably—believe that Trump does what he says he does. If he says he’s suspending immigration, they believe he’s suspending immigration—even though he’s not. If he says he’s cutting off travel from China, they believe he’s cutting off travel from China—even though he’s not. If he says he’s “right now building a tremendous wall” between the United States and Mexico, they believe he’s right now building a tremendous wall between the United States and Mexico—although he’s not. (Nearly three-quarters of Republicans say they trust Trump’s information on the coronavirus, … —despite the stream of swiftly disproven falsehoods he’s issued on the subject.)

Democracy depends on accountability, and accountability depends on knowing whom we are holding to account and for what. And we can do so only by knowing what our elected officials have actually done. But Donald Trump has—it appears, and quite deliberately—inverted all that. He says he’s doing one thing, then he does another. He says there is a new policy, and then it doesn’t materialize. He tweets out his feelings, then his underlings get to work creating a new policy or rule that may or may not have any legal force. It may or may not ever go into effect. But some voters will go to the polls believing, reasonably, that he did something because he said he did."

I think that it is time to Make Truth Great Again, and Real.

No political party has a monopoly on the erosion of Truth. All of us have narratives to make sense of the world around us that can distort our ability to deal with facts that disagree with our carefully constructed narratives.

The deliberate and systematic assault on Truth has happened before in many places. Today, in America, the Trump Administration took it to much higher level.

As Truth and Facts spiral down the reality drain, they are accompanied by the decline in support for Knowledge and Expertise. We are reaching a point where any opinion, no matter how uninformed, has come to be considered equal to opinions based on knowledge and expertise.

Again, our recent experience with the Coronavirus outbreak illustrates the folly of undermining Expertise.

ASSULT ON EXPERTISE

Rachael Maddow blogged: It's unreasonable to expect a president to be an expert in everything. It's quite reasonable to expect him to realize that he's not an expert in everything.

As the Pandemic unfolds, Expertise has been continuously challenged, ignored, and rolled over.

Steve Benen, the producer of The Rachael Maddow Show, chronicled Donald Trump’s March 6^th visit to the CDC in Atlanta…

"A reporter asked the president how American hospitals can properly prepare for a viral outbreak if they have no idea how many patients to expect. Trump's answer rambled a bit, before the Republican assured everyone:

"I like this stuff. I really get it. People are surprised that I understand it. Every one of these doctors said, 'How do you know so much about this? ' Maybe I have a natural ability. Maybe I should have done that instead of running for president."

Trump has also claimed to be the world's foremost authority on everything from terrorism to campaign finance, the judicial system to infrastructure, trade to renewable energy.

Now, our polymathic leader has "a natural ability" to understand epidemiology, too, all evidence to the contrary notwithstanding."

Trump instituted daily Coronavirus Press Briefings so that he could make the pandemic all about him, taking credit for any successes and deflecting blame onto others. Controlling the media spin, something that he is an expert in. Desperately seeking a miracle cure to avoid accountability for downplaying the seriousness of COVID-19, Trump began promoting hydroxychloroquine as a preventive and a cure.

Contemptuously dismissing attempts of his own pandemic experts to reign him in, Trump ignored their caution and steamrolled ahead.

Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire – from COVID-19 to the Climate Crisis

Sun, 03 May 2020 17:20:09 GMT

Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire – [Part 2]

I admire the work of Trump’s health care and pandemic experts, such as Dr. Anthony Fauci and others, their dedication to sharing their expertise with the public – finding creative ways to present information, while trying not to directly contradict the President’s pronouncements. That they often feel the need to coat their corrections with vacuous flattery underscores how far expertise has fallen. The emperor has no clothes and we all must tell him how nice his new suit is.

Trump continued to promote hydroxychloroquine on several occasions, ignoring the cries that rigorous studies had not been completed to show any benefit.

This caused Ian Reifowitz to write in the Daily Kos:

Donald Trump and his state propaganda sycophants over at Fox News hyped hydroxychloroquine as a "game changer,” until it was game over. We learned this week that taking the drug not only doesn’t help people recover from COVID-19, it makes it more likely that they will drop dead. Why doesn’t this make hordes of Republican voters say, “What in the world am I doing listening to these shameless liars?” The fact that they don’t is what makes them dangerous.

But wait, there’s more.

To paraphrase George Orwell:

Hydroxychloroquine is a game changer.

Hydroxychloroquine has always been a game changer.

We will not speak of hydroxychloroquine.

We have never spoken of hydroxychloroquine.

Of course, this is even bigger than just hydroxychloroquine. Even though they had been warned—and thus knew better—Trump, Republicans, and Fox News have been lying about the severity of the coronavirus since the start. Then, once the bodies started piling up, they began lying about the fact that they had lied.

Trumps touting of the RIGHT TO TRY hydroxychloroquine was more like a RIGHT TO DIE.

Perhaps my disappointment about not believing anything the President says has an upside.

Even though most areas lacked sufficient testing, as infection rates continued to escalate and deaths continued to increase, an even more desperate “very stable genius” ventured further into areas where he knows less than nothing…

NOBODY KNOWS MORE ABOUT IT THAN ME

Last week, Trump again began offering Medical Advice at his daily Coronavirus Press Circus:

[Trump heard that] "The virus dies quickest in sunlight," leaving Trump to wonder whether you could bring the light "inside the body."

"So supposing we hit the body with a tremendous — whether it's ultraviolet or just a very powerful light — and I think you said that hasn't been checked because of the testing," Trump said, speaking to [one of his officials] during the briefing. [Trump recounted],"And then I said, supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or some other way, and I think you said you're going to test that, too."

He added: "I see the disinfectant that knocks it out in a minute, one minute. And is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside or almost a cleaning? As you see, it gets in the lungs, it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it would be interesting to check that."

"I'm not a doctor," Trump added. "I'm like a person who has a good you-know-what," pointing to his head.

You may have caught on that Trump is the train wreck that I can’t stop following. These remarks were completely off the rails.

In George Orwell’s 1984 one of Supreme Dictator Big Brother’s slogans was: Ignorance is Strength. Not in this case. For that matter, not in any case.

Trump’s light and disinfectant suggestions caused great consternation. Disinfectant manufacturers worried about uninformed people actually attempting what Trump suggested. They issued warnings. The media was all a flutter. The remarks were condemned as wildly irresponsible by many, while right wing pundits and Fox News offered absurd and convoluted alternative facts. Trump later undercut all of these efforts by declaring the he was being sarcastic. Yeah. Right.

COVID-19 was a wakeup call to American arrogance. We are not the shining city on a hill, resplendent, isolated, and independent. America is irrevocably connected to the rest of the world. America is indeed an Empire in Decline.

One of my favorite journalists, Amanda Marcotte, wrote in Salon:

The reason Trump is grabbing onto whatever asinine idea pings around inside his head is not mysterious. Public health experts have made it clear that the only thing that will actually solve this crisis is mass testing, but Trump doesn't want mass testing, because he thinks it's bad for his "numbers."… So instead he bounces around from one "miracle" solution to the next, desperate to come up with a reason we can just skip the mass testing strategy that could actually work.

I learned a new word in researching today’s talk. “Astroturfing”. An article in the Guardian defined Astroturfing as:

"...the attempt to create an impression of widespread grassroots support for a policy, individual, or product, where little such support exists. Multiple online identities and fake pressure groups are used to mislead the public into believing that the position of the astroturfer is the commonly held view."

I ran across this term referring to the protesters rallying in many State Capitals to re-open America. Responding to Trump’s suggestion that “We can’t have the cure be worse than the problem.” An astroturffed popular uprising of the fanatic few was orchestrated, complete with AK-47’s and Confederate flags.

My freedom to swing my fist is restricted, when it comes into contact with your face. Your freedom to wander about unrestricted during a national pandemic is restricted, when it could rapidly spread a deadly contagion.

OPENING UP

Opening up too soon could cause COVID-19 cases to skyrocket erasing the gains made by social distancing and sheltering in place. None-the-less, many States are doing so. Some states, like Georgia, are way ahead of this…

The other day, a friend forwarded this Facebook Posting to me from “Professa Cross”.

Sooooo.. I did a thing.

Since Georgia is open now I called the Governor’s Mansion and asked them when it would be open for a tour. I would like to schedule one. A very irritated staffer told me that there will be NO tours until further notice… Hummmm.. I asked “and why is that??? Surely if nail salons and gyms are open today the mansion would. I find it very unamerican that my rights to visit my Government’s mansion would be infringed upon. Who is your boss?”

The irate woman replies. “There is a nation wide pandemic and the mansion is being closed is for safety purposes.”

“Oh really??? You don’t say??? I still would like to schedule a tour please. The Governor himself said it was safe to come out.”

The irate lady hung up in my face.

Ready or not, the Federal Government has stepped back and many states, reacting to political pressure from suspect sources, are becoming open for business again.

Making the trade-off between access to work and public safety is a difficult choice. Especially when the safety net to support closed businesses and the unemployed is non-existent or frayed and thin at best.

Staff writer Rachel Donadio wrote in The Atlantic:

"Negotiating between lives and livelihoods is not only a political and economic issue. It’s a philosophical one, with consequences that will resonate for years to come."

Political choices are being made. The absence of a prominent role for Truth and Expertise in these choices will resonate for years to come.

I have come to the realization that my government, and much of America itself, is not well intentioned. Not merely incompetent in its mechanizations, but selfish, greedy, and malevolent. A threat to the future of life on this planet.

CLIMATE CRISIS

That is what is waiting for us when America opens up again. America can shift its focus, from ignoring and denying the Coronavirus, to ignoring and denying the Climate Crisis.

The goal of reducing our greenhouse gas emissions to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030 still needs to be achieved.

The Coronavirus was not a time-out that extended the deadline for moving beyond fossil fuels. However, there was a positive effect from the Coronavirus Pandemic. It turns out, not surprisingly, that dialing down social and economic activity, is good for the environment.

The New York Times reports that according to the International Energy Agency “Global greenhouse gas emissions are on track to fall nearly 8 percent this year, the largest drop ever recorded.”

This is an opportunity to adopt some of the behavior changes that we exhibited during social distancing and sheltering in place, to continue to achieve at least some of these reductions.

RETURN TO NORMAL

Chris Hedges wrote: "These days are the good times, as compared to what is coming next."

I fear that the trials of today will be overshadowed by travails in the future as the Climate Crisis becomes manifest.

There will be no return to normal after the COVID-19 Quarantine. It is lifting in many places across the country, right now – before we have the necessary volume of testing and contact tracing methods in place. Get ready to ride a second wave caused by opening too soon. Politicians making the opening decisions will continue to fail to take responsibility for the deaths caused by their precipitous actions – after all, who could have foreseen this? Compounding this tragedy is the fact that too many Americans will accept these excuses.

The Federal social distancing and sheltering in place recommendations have expired. Some States are choosing to open up. This is not going to change my caution. I will seek out the informed expertise of pandemic health care professionals before my behavior changes, not pundits or politicians. This takes effort, effort that many are unable or unwilling to undertake. Politics, political identity, holds sway for many. In the near future will I be able to tell a stranger’s political allegiance on a trip to COSTCO based on whether they are wearing a facemask or not?

I know that things will not magically return to normal, for Normal never was. Calling the previous state of a failed political system and looming environmental catastrophe normal, stretches the word to its breaking point.

NWCoaster wrote in the Daily Kos:

"This feels like the apocalypse, and it is. Not in the way some imagine: the world isn’t going to end, it never does…, and it won’t this time around. But the original meaning of apocalypse is something like 'to reveal, to lift the veil.' This chaos is what is necessary, to see through this world and get glimpses of the new one ahead."

The COVID-19 apocalypse lifted the veil. What I have seen about my Government and my Country, the trauma of poverty and death, greed and corruption, incompetence and blame, cannot be unseen.

I steel myself for the oncoming commercial onslaught exhorting me to buy, buy, buy and consume, consume, consume. This is Capitalism’s idea of a return to normal. A normal where I can fill up my car with low priced gas and resume murdering the planet.

My five-year-old grandson David, is in the “Why?” phase. His life and media consumption leave him largely sheltered from the violence and suffering in the world. Conditions that if asked “Why?”, I can only fail to provide an adequate response.

Thinking about the world that he will inherit fills me with shame. I have failed my grandchildren. I am aware of this feeling, and I know that it will pass. Perhaps sooner than it should. I could try to make excuses but they do not serve me well. My hope is that the humanist values imparted to him, respect for the worth and dignity of others, cooperation and compassion, respect for truth and expertise, will help him cope with the difficulties that he will face.

Maya Angelou wrote: “Hope and Fear cannot occupy the same space. Invite one to stay.”

I will try to hold on to hope.

Life is balanced. Decreased human activity, driving to work, running unnecessary errands, business and industry shut-downs, and little air travel, revealed clearer skies by day and brilliant stars at night. Nature has crept back into urban areas. It is as if my distancing from so many of my human connections allowed me to see my connection to nature anew. To see the earth that sustains me. I glimpsed what life could be if I decreased my consumption.

My life became busy in different ways. Connecting to others by different means. Realizing the richness of relationships that I previously took for granted. Taking more time to improve my relationships with those that I love.

My goal is to ignore these renewed commercial temptations and try to see new possibilities. I want to bring back what works and discard those things in the times before COVID-19 that did not improve my life and contributed to the Climate Crisis. I want to join a conspiracy to kill fossil fuels and not let this beast rise again to dominate the planet.

I am beginning to see the edges of a new way forward. Seeing a world where people care about each other, help take care of each other. A life not focused on striving for more but making do with less.

In addition to human tragedy, in some ways, COVID-19 may be a great gift. Filtering up from the death, incompetence, and injustice of it all, I am beginning to see a future that isn’t driven by Wall Street profits and corporate greed. A future where human needs and human rights are lifted up. A future that I can co-create with others.

Brene Brown wrote:

"We will not go back to normal. Normal never was. Our pre-corona existence was not normal other that we normalized greed, inequality, exhaustion, depletion, extraction, disconnection, confusion, rage, hoarding, hate and lack. We should not long to return, my friends. We are being given the opportunity to stitch a new garment. One that fits all of humanity and nature."

Perhaps I can convince others to help stitch this new garment with me. Together we can transform the way we use the world and treat each other. We must for there to be a future that includes all of us.

Earth Day - Wednesday April 22nd by Randy Best

Tue, 21 Apr 2020 16:45:56 GMT

Earth Day 2020

Wednesday, April 22^nd is Earth Day. The 50^th anniversary of the first Earth Day observance.

I find trouble recalling what Earth Day commemorates during this time of social distancing and sheltering at home. COVID-19 takes up too much of my mental bandwidth. The Climate Crisis is lurking in the background. Waiting to reemerge when I resume my daily routines.

Earth Day’s focus has changed over the years, from the early focus of the environmental movement on preservation and conservation, to recent concern about the climate crisis and global sustainability.

The Earth Day website, earthday.org, lists their current mission:

To build the world’s largest environmental movement to drive transformative change for people and planet.

Earth Day Network’s mission is to diversify, educate and activate the environmental movement worldwide. Growing out of the first Earth Day in 1970, Earth Day Network is the world’s largest recruiter to the environmental movement, working with more than 75,000 partners in over 190 countries to drive positive action for our planet.

We are committed to mobilize the world to take on the most urgent challenges of our time — from climate change to deforestation to species extinction.

Together, we can build the world’s largest and most diverse mobilization for the future of our planet.

Tomorrow, I plan on taking a break during my day at home to go to the earthday.org website. There I will find different actions that I can take each hour, things to learn, and, hopefully, inspiration.

- Randy Best

Part 1: Reframing Humanism During a Time of Crisis by Randy Best

Sun, 05 Apr 2020 23:39:53 GMT

Dear Members and Friends -

Since my Platform Talk this morning was not recorded, several of you asked me to provide the text of my presentation. Here it is. I welcome any feedback that you may have. It is long, so our website requires me to divide it in two parts.

Yours in Ethical Community,

Randy Best

Part 1: Reframing Humanism During a Time of Crisis by Randy Best, NoVES Leader

There are two parts to my talk today.

One part originates in the American Humanist Association’s Master Class that I attended on February 29th and March 1st. The course title was Intersectional Humanisms: Identity Politics, Justice Work, and the Proliferation of Social Difference. It was presented by Professors Monica Miller and Chris Driscoll, from Lehigh University.

This course expanded my horizons by questioning the assumptions underlying my humanism and examining humanism through a different, intersectional lens. More on that later. Even though this course was at the end of February, just over a month ago, it seems like a lifetime has passed since then.

The second part of my talk applies one of these ideas to our current Coronavirus Pandemic Crisis and how an expanded humanist approach can provide a basis for action. I thought about presenting a talk that was a total escape from the issue that occupies so much of my time, the Coronavirus laden Elephant in the Room. I found that I couldn’t do this. Not now anyway. It would be a moral failure for me not to talk about the problem confronting all of us. Maybe someday in the future I will be able not to talk about it.

Before going any further, I want to share where I am at right now.

I fear that I have plunged down the Coronavirus Rabbit Hole and spend a significant amount of time wrapped up in this world-wide human catastrophe. I do not think that I am unique in this preoccupation. Nor do I think that staying informed is a bad thing. Knowledge eases my anxiety, even though the continued self-centered incompetence of the Trump Administration’s leadership makes me angry.

Escape definitely has its appeal – and I find myself doing a lot of that too. I become rooted to my computer screen, reading articles about this plague and our responses to it. Too often, my escapism alsoinvolves my computer screen. Yes, I find that there are a lot of good things to watch out there in the virtual world, and a lot of crap too – I seem to consume both at various times.

It is too easy for me to stay in my virtual cocoon. It takes willpower to walk away and interact with my family. To make a commitment to prepare dinner so that I get out of my room. To schedule a walk or conversation or time to work in the yard. I struggle for balance. Sometimes I fall short. Often, I am emotionally overloaded by the whole experience and find breaking my inertia to be difficult.

I realize that I am making choices. I need to be more conscious of the choices that I am making.

Another thing that I do to interrupt my cycle of news saturation and escapism is connecting with NoVES members and friends through Zoom. These social video meetings are welcome interruptions to my routine, allowing me to share experiences with others and give and receive human connection and support.

I moved from an over-scheduled life of in person meetings and events to an over-scheduled virtual life of Zoom meetings and events. I doneed to be more conscious of the choices that I make and their consequences.

I have entered a new and different phase of existence. One of localized, limited, personal connection with only virtual connections to the larger world. I need to get my act together to consciously shape what I want my life to look like in a post-Pandemic world. I realize that this is more than I can take on right now. The future is difficult to imagine. It will be a rough road to get there.

Now to turn back the clock to my course on leap day weekend. Seemingly so long ago…

What motivated me to attend a course called Intersectional Humanisms: Identity Politics, Justice Work, and the Proliferation of Social Difference?

I was drawn to it because it was an area of thought that I was unfamiliar with. It offered an opportunity to learn something new. I wanted to interrogate and expand my humanist vision. I wanted to challenge my dismissive view of Post-Modernism and learn what I might be missing. I found this course to be all of that and more.

The course jammed much of a semester’s academic study into two one-day sessions. There was a lot of reading, representing different perspectives: from Angela Davis’ analysis in Women, Race, and Class to books from a black feminist perspective and others on the black trans experience.

The class posed such questions as:

What Race is your Sex?

What Race is your Humanism?

How does Transgender identity fit into Humanism?

How do notions of Whiteness create norms that erase expression of marginalized groups?

We examined Intersectionality – maintaining multiple identities at once and how they interact and overlap – and how this is not recognized in American Jurisprudence.

In court discrimination claims, black women experiencing discrimination because they are both black and women are forced to choose to be either black, or women, since the law does not recognize “black women” as a protected class. The impact of this intersectional identity is not recognized.

The instructors challenged the class to redefine and expand the Humanist Project, altering and enlarging my humanist perspective.

There is much that I could cover from this course. I am going to focus on how the course changed my ideas about the supremacy of the role of REASON in Humanism.

The course introduced me to deconstructing the Authority of REASON.

“What is that?” you may well ask. Let me explain.

Reason is often cited as an important part of Humanism. In our own NoVES F-A-Q page, under

WHAT IS THE ETHICAL SOCIETY? it says:

The Ethical Society is a humanist congregation. We affirm human dignity, celebrate reason, and work together for social change. We are a place where people come together to explore the biggest questions of life without reference to scripture, religion, or deities. We are inspired by the supreme ideal of human life as working to create a more humane society. We believe in human reason and agency as means to create a better world. This commits us to value the dignity of every individual, recognize their right and responsibility to give meaning and shape to their lives. We welcome humanists, agnostics, and atheists, as well as people from various religious backgrounds. We come together to celebrate our journey through life and affirm our ability to live ethical lives without traditional religious beliefs.

Reason appears twice in NoVES’ statement about who we are. This is not an unusual statement for an Ethical Society.

Humanism often highlights Human Reason as an approach to solving human problems.

This class altered my view of Reason.

Reason can’t be divorced from its social context. To many marginalized groups, Reason is viewed as a tool that white men use to reinforce their domination and impose their ideas. Those who hold other perspectives and reach other conclusions are considered “unreasonable”.

Conclusions produced by Reason are seen as universal truths – even though they are often strongly influenced by culturally situated assumptions.

Reason locks us into a problematic normalizing of difference. Reason can be used to override and erase difference. Reason can’t be divorced from its social context.

Individuals are not autonomous actors that just happen to think exactly like Rene Descartes.

The course challenged me to recast HUMANISM to be free of this assumption.

Here’s a quick example.

The Golden Rule states “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

The Golden Rule assumes that everyone wants, what you want.

It universalizes people, and in doing so, loses important differences in backgrounds, experiences, and desires. It erases difference.

Universalized Truth produced by Reason faces the same problem of erasing difference.

After completing the readings, listening to the professors, and discussing it in class, I landed in a different place.

I do not advocate eliminating any reference to reason or “throwing Reason under the Bus”.

I do bring a new understanding to the privileging of Reason in Humanism.

Reason is important and Reason has its limitations.

I no longer favor a Humanism that centers Reason.

It is time to put the Human back in Humanism, to CENTER THE HUMAN IN HUMANISM.

How I define the “Human” in Humanism is of primary importance. Who is included? More importantly, Who has been left out?

I favor a Humanism that CENTERS the HUMAN, Human Interests and Human Needs, Human Compassion, without excluding anyone.

I needed to see things differently in order to change. My experience in the Intersectional Humanisms Course, the ideas of Professors Monica Miller, Chris Driscoll, and the thoughts of other class participants, shifted my viewpoint to consider other perspectives.

Part 2: Reframing Humanism During a Time of Crisis by Randy Best, NoVES Leader

Sun, 05 Apr 2020 23:28:02 GMT

Part 2: Reframing Humanism During a Time of Crisis by Randy Best, NoVES Leader

Just as Humanism needs to center the Human in its framing, our National response to the Coronavirus Pandemic needs to center the Human as well.

While falling short in many ways, America is responding in ways that have not been seen since the 1918 H1N1 Influenza Pandemic. Americans are practicing Social Distancing and Sheltering at Home. Many businesses are closed and many are working from home.

These responses to a Pandemic are not new. They are new to almost all of us living today. These responses are also an example of Americans acting for the collective good.

Some people choose to ignore these restrictions. Most choose to abide by these new social rules.

Examples of selfish hoarding are over shadowed by acts of consideration extended to friends and neighbors. People looking out for each other, taking care of each other. These examples of human concern and generosity encourage me and help mitigate the stories of a health system in crisis.

The heroism of health care workers carrying on knowing that eventually they too will become infected is inspiring. People who work in Grocery Stores and other necessary services continuing to go to work, knowing that they are putting themselves at risk.

I do my small part by staying home and reflecting on how my life, and the lives of those around me, has changed, morphed into something that I am trying to wrap my mind around.

The Coronavirus Pandemic is eating up my mental bandwidth. Taking over my anxiety box, displacing the Climate Crisis that formerly filled up so much of my mental space.

The Coronavirus Pandemic can’t fully displace another resident of my anxiety box, concern over a corrupt and incompetent Trump Administration, because these issues are now so fully intertwined.

Just as the election of Donald Trump led to exposure of America’s racist underbelly.

Just as the Climate Crisis revealed the consequences of Capitalism’s excesses – the blind pursuit of wealth – and growth without limits – without regard for the planet and those left behind.

Now the Coronavirus pandemic reveals the political short-sightedness, greed, and incompetence of the Trump Administration and his enablers in the Republican Party.

I have a president whose concern with how a pandemic would affect his re-election, caused him to ignore the advice of his own health officials, and postpone mobilizing federal resources to address the problem. This delayed action has cost, and will continue to cost, human lives.

Until just a few days ago our President was talking about re-opening the economy after Easter.

On March 23^rd President Donald Trump said that he wants to reopen the country for business in weeks, not months, and claimed, without evidence, that continued closures could result in more deaths than the pandemic itself.

"We can’t have the cure be worse than the problem," Trump told reporters at a briefing Monday, echoing a midnight Sunday tweet. “We have to open our country because that causes problems that, in my opinion, could be far bigger problems."

Make no mistake here, concern for the economy means that Wall Street is not making any money. The concern is not for the small business that are going under because they can’t stay open or people put out of work by sheltering at home policies who can’t pay their bills.

John Auerbach, president of the nonpartisan Trust for America’s Health, said widespread illness and death also have a powerful economic impact that’s impossible to ignore or play down. “If you don’t flatten the curve and minimize those who are getting infected, the amount of sickness will cripple business.”

On March 25^th Trump Tweeted:

The LameStream Media is the dominant force in trying to get me to keep our Country closed as long as possible in the hope that it will be detrimental to my election success. The real people want to get back to work ASAP. We will be stronger than ever before!

Trump and his sycophants have asked us to sacrifice ourselves for Trump’s re-election and to save Capitalism.

We are now reaping the results of the increasing commodification of our lives, of human life, of life on this planet.

Trump walked back his idea to open everything up after Easter. He is now talking about continuing shelter in place policies for months and anticipating 100,000 to 200,000 American deaths from COVID-19.

Most pandemic experts in the Trump Administration are talking about a toll that is significantly higher, 400,000 or more.

Still, I am stuck with a president whose thinking is still at least a week behind the rest of us.

Expect to see Trump’s announcements about the duration of shelter in place timelines and COVID-19 death estimates to increase over the coming weeks to become more in line with CDC projections.

But wait, yesterday President Trump circled back again. Slate Magazine reported yesterday that…

Even as Trump warned of the problems ahead for the country and vowed that the government would use “every single resource we’ve got to keep our people healthy, safe, secure and to get this thing over with,” he also suggested he wanted a quick end to the social distancing measures. “We have to open our country again,” Trump said. “We have to open our country again. We don’t want to be doing this for months and months and months.”

Health officials continued to urge Americans to take social distancing seriously. “I want to actually just plea … to the American public, you know, as sobering and as difficult as this is, what we are doing is making a difference,” said Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases. “So we really need to continue to do that.”

The article continued, Trump once again continued pushing hydroxychloroquine as a potential treatment for the coronavirus and even suggested he could start taking it as a preventive measure. “If it were me — in fact, I might do it anyway. I may take it, okay? I may take it,” he said. “And I’ll have to ask my doctors about that, but I may take it.”

Leadership that goes against the advice of Health Care Officials in his own administration, endangers lives.

Joseph Stalin, is reported to have said: "One death is a tragedy. A million deaths is a statistic."

Contemplating so much human tragedy, so much death and a health care system stretched beyond its capabilities shakes my foundations. I am also afraid that I will become numb to it all.

The response of Trump, his Administration, and far too many elected officials is to place “the Economy” at the Center. It is to center “Corporate Interests” above “Human Interests”.

Centering Corporate Interests over Human Interests is reflected in the Congress’ $2 Trillion Coronavirus Rescue Package signed into Law by President Trump on March 27^th.

It represents a compromise between House and Senate interests. Between Human and Corporate interests.

As a compromise, it attempts to strike a balance between Human Needs and Corporate Greeds.

This package:

Provides $560 Billion in relief for Individuals ($1,200 for some of us and unemployment benefits can really add up)

Provides $560 Billion in relief for Individuals ($1,200 for some of us and unemployment benefits can really add up)
Provides $500 Billion in largely unrestricted relief to Big Corporations
$377 Billion to Small Businesses
$339.8 Billion to State and Local Governments
$153.5 Billion for Public Health
$43.7 Billion mostly for Education
$26 Billion to enhance the Safety Net

Much of the economic relief included in this legislation amounts to continuing the policies of Trump’s tax cut for the richest Americans, more Socialism for the wealthy while sacrificing the rest of us to the so-called Free Market that is more and more out of reach.

NPR reported that: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, described the legislation, known as the CARES Act, as necessary emergency relief and vowed to put partisanship aside to get it done.

"No economic policy can fully end the hardship so long as the public health requires that we put so much of our commerce on ice," McConnell said in a speech on the Senate floor. "This isn't even a stimulus package. It is emergency relief. Emergency relief. That's what this is."

I have a feeling that Big Corporations can expect an additional windfall in the near future.

I need to see real leadership at the top. I need to see a plan to beat COVID-19 and it just isn’t there.

Misinformation abounds. That much of it emanates from the President and his Fox News echo chamber makes it so much worse.

I am morbidly fascinated by those who pick up on this misinformation and obtain drugs falsely touted as Coronavirus cures that often come with dangerous side effects.

Amanda Marcotte wrote in Salon:

So why are so many people so eager to get their hands on drugs that are clearly dangerous and may do no good?

The most immediate reason is simple: The people rushing the pharmacies are Republicans, and both Donald Trump and numerous Fox News personalities have told them these drugs are a "game-changer" that can save them from the coronavirus.

But there's a reason these false or unproven claims are resonating with the ordinary citizens of Trumpistan. The hope that there's a hard-to-get miracle cure that will save them speaks directly to the poisonous social Darwinism that guides modern conservatism.

It reflects deep hostility to the very concept of a shared public good and a fierce attachment to a racialized ideology of individualism that treats public goods such as health care as things to be hoarded by those with the privilege, money and status to do so.

Conservative ideology simply doesn't allow for the possibility that anything, including pandemic management, is best managed with a "we're all in this together" mentality. Instead they're drawn to this fantasy that there's a Platinum Member COVID-19 status that can be purchased, which will allow them to opt out of the suffering of the plebeian class that has to quarantine or risk sickness and death.

Somehow, the knowledge that people are being conned into looking for miracle cures does not make me feel any better.

I waiver in and out of closing my mind to the reality before me, as it is so terrible to contemplate. And I know that I am among the lucky ones. I have the resources to get by. If, when, I get sick, there are several factors in my favor. Many are a lot less fortunate.

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted:

"COVID deaths are disproportionately spiking in Black & Brown communities. Why? Because the chronic toll of redlining, environmental racism, wealth gap, etc. ARE underlying health conditions."

"Inequality is a comorbidity," she added. "COVID relief should be drafted with a lens of reparations."

If the impact of the Coronavirus Pandemic is likely to be extreme in the richest nation in the world, I shudder to think of how it will play out in developing countries.

I avoid despair by maintaining connections with others. As conditions worsen, I will look to others, to support each other thorough our grief.

How do I center Human Interests and Human Needs as I struggle to find a way forward?

I look to others who are centering Human Needs as they look toward navigating the Coronavirus Pandemic. Plans that Center Human Needs are out there.

The Poor People’s Campaign produced one such plan. It has 6 points and calls for:

1. Immediate, comprehensive and permanent paid sick leave for 100% of employees for this pandemic.

2. Immediate health care for all, including 100% free COVID-19 testing, treatment and quality care to all, regardless of income, age, disability, citizenship or any other factor, and including the uninsured.

3. A guaranteed and adequate annual income / universal income, including rapid, direct payments to all low-wage and temporary workers, from grocery, fast food and delivery workers, care workers, and pharmacists, to other workers who remain on the front lines and are severely underpaid.

4. A national moratorium on evictions, tax foreclosures, rent hikes, and a national rent freeze. This includes an immediate halt to encampment sweeps and towing vehicles of unhoused communities. Federal resources must be directed to local and state governments towards opening and preparing vacant and habitable buildings, properties and warehouses to house and provide adequate care for all people who are homeless. This includes ensuring education, food assistance and health care for homeless children and provisions for medical testing, treatment and respite for the homeless.

5. Debt forgiveness for medical debt, student debt, water, utilities and other forms of household debt.

6. Protections for our democracy and the right to vote with expanded opportunities to vote during this crisis and an expanded census to ensure every person is accounted for.

These six points are not the whole solution. They could become a Human Centered part of the solution. The $2 Trillion CARES Act falls far short of achieving these six proposals. It goes part way on one or two of them.

Political change is necessary to move toward achieving Coronavirus Pandemic solutions that truly focus on Human needs. Until then, political compromises will make limited progress.

What can I do? I can overcome my apprehension and inertia, connect with those around me more for better self-care and strengthen my connections with communities of concern, with all of you, with NoVES. I believe that we can get through this together.

The “7 Deadly Sins” through a Humanist Lens by Hugh Taft-Morales

Sun, 05 Apr 2020 23:20:57 GMT

Dear NoVES Members and Friends -

I promised to post the Platform Talk given by Hugh Taft-Morales, the Leader of the Baltimore and Philadelphia Ethical Societies.

It was an excellent talk. Here it is.

The “7 Deadly Sins” through a Humanist Lens, Hugh Taft-Morales – 3/29/20

INTRO

As we struggle with the early weeks of the COVID-19 crisis, I read a blog by Ralph Drollinger of Capitol Ministries who serves as one of Trump’s “faith advisors.” He wrote in our health challenge we were “experiencing the consequential wrath of God.” He continued, “Since God is just and sin must and will be paid for, wrath…is an inevitable consequence.” In my talk today about the “7 deadly sins,” Drollinger reminds me of what I have always rejected about this particular approach to sin. It only makes sense in the context of a god who allowed his own son to suffer crucifixion. It’s simply awful.

But I reject this version of “sin.” I agree with Aviad Kleinberg who in his book, 7 Deadly Sins: A very partial list, states at the beginning, “Sin is a cultural construct.” I agree. I believe most humanists would agree as well. The word is used today colloquially in secular explorations of human psychology and ethics. But, Christianity did shape its meaning, so I’ll start there.

While people use different terms in naming the seven deadly sins, I will the traditional list offered by Dante: pride, sloth, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, and greed.

My plan for this talk is that after exploring sin in general as well as these particular sins, I’ll suggest that humanists respond to the angry god approach to sin as follows. First, rather than wasting time and energy punishing oneself for imagined sins, focus on approaching pleasures by cultivating moderation. Second, while we may fall short of our own ideals, that’s a part of life. With humility and grace, we should continue reaching for our ideals. And third, life offers enough good, pleasurable, fulfilling things for us all to live a flourishing life. We just need to learn how better to share.

FOUNDED ON SIN – CHRISTIANITY

Kleinberg states flatly that Christianity was “founded on sin.” It began with Adam and Eve getting kicked out of the garden for daring to eat from the tree of knowledge. It came to this country through the fixation Calvinists had about inherent sin and wrathful divine punishment. As Great Awakening preacher Jonathan Edwards warns his followers, due to their sinful nature, “The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns like fire….

He goes on and on threatening hellfire and inducing fear, guilt + shame. It can make life a living hell. Professor Wendell Watters writes, “The Christian is brainwashed to believe that he or she was born wicked, should suffer as Christ suffered, and should aspire to a humanly impossible level of perfection nonetheless….. A true Christian must always be in a state of torment.” Again I say that this is a terrible way to look at life.

It’s a worldview that can have particularly devastating effects on young children. That’s why Dale McGowan, the author of Parenting Beyond Belief who once served as Director of Education for the American Ethical Union, told his children that there is no such thing as hell. To imagine that original sin condemns us all to intense suffering for all eternity can damage young psyches. While Dale wanted his children to come to their beliefs on their own, he wanted the possibility of hell off the table.

SLOTH

Given the self-isolation necessary during this pandemic, and the occasional urge to just curl up on the couch and do nothing, I’ll start with sloth. Unlike the other deadly sins, sloth results from an absence of something. It’s about the absence of love – love for self, or for others, or for the good things in life, or for god. Dante describes it as, "failure to love God with all one's heart, all one's mind and all one's soul." Without a love of god, or for anything else, an inertia sets in - physical laziness and psychologically paralysis ensue. It can lead to despair and even suicide.

In colonial New England where the Puritan work ethic ruled, sloth was condemned with particular venom. In Dante’s Purgatorio, those guilty of sloth are sentenced to run as fast as they can at top speed forever, like gerbils on a running wheel – a particularly ironic punishment for sloth.

HURTFUL DESIRES – PRIDE, WRATH AND ENVY

Unlike sloth, the other deadly sins are marked by the presence of some negative characteristic. Pride, wrath, and envy results from “hurtful desires” – desires to harm others and place yourself above them.

Pride is seen by many Christian as “the father of all sins” – the original sin. Some say that Adam ate the apple because he wanted to be “like god,” wise and self-sufficient as only “He” can be. Jonathan Edwards warned his audiences that “pride is the worst viper that is in the heart…. [I]t was the first sin that ever was, and lies lowest in the foundation of Satan's whole building, and is the most difficultly rooted out….” It is a particularly infectious sin, one that author C. S. Lewis said was the most egregious affront to God.

Not surprisingly, pride is seen as the devil's most prominent trait. Lewis writes, “Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind."

In Dante’s Divine Comedy, those condemned by god for pride must wear heavy stone slabs around their necks so that their heads remain bowed forever. It’s the price they pay for their hubris. Might Ralph Drollinger say that the virus we face is our divine punishment?

Let me turn now to wrath. Wrath is defined by Aristotle as “a desire, accompanied by pain, for a conspicuous revenge….” (Kleinberg 115) It is uncontrolled and indiscriminate. God of the Old Testament is an angry god, “vengeful, vindictive, irritable.” As Kleinberg wrote, “Christ himself often spoke and acted like an angry man, expressing rage toward the Pharisees, toward the money changers in the Temple, even toward a barren fig tree.”

Many warrior cultures embrace wrath as useful in maintaining order and winning wars. Kleinberg explains that “[v]iolence…is a way of life in many societies. Anger in such societies is both feared and praised.”

But warrior cultures have wreaked havoc and caused much suffering. The god of the old testament gets away with wrath. But for us humans, uncontrolled anger can hurt even those who are angry. They can be self-destructive. As Henry Edward Manning, nineteenth century English Cardinal said, angry people are "slaves to themselves."

Envy is related to wrath in that it seeks to injure and seems insatiable. Human’s have always coveted what others have in terms of prestige, power or possessions. Cain killed his brother Abel just due to envy about Abel being God’s favorite. Envy corrodes relationships.

Envy can also be self-destructive. It’s not pleasant to be “green with envy.” When it persists, it can slide easily into a state of permanent self-pity. Kleinberg says of envy, “[t]he green-eyed monster, with its malevolent gaze, pursues us from cradle to grave.” Everyone has more than me, has better than me. Woe is me! And what punishment does Dante contrive for the envious? Having your eyes sewn shut! No more seeing what others have that you do not!

DISTORTED LOVE – LUST, GLUTTONY, AND GREED

The final three sins – lust, gluttony, and greed - all flow from what some describe as “a distorted or excessive love of good things.” They connect with our animal nature and bodily desires. Lust usually fixates on sex, gluttony on food, and greed on money. To me, the pleasure of sex, food, and money are not bad in and of themselves. Most people welcome the pleasures of sex, food, and money. It’s when their place in one’s life becomes excessive or distorted that problems arise.

In many puritan cultures sex was a dirty word and lust was considered more dangerous than enjoyable. Eros has the power to corrupt us and drag us into debauchery. Cardinal Manning said that lust turns us into “a slave of the devil.” One of a number of instances of using slavery as a metaphor to describe our relationships to sin.

Because lust is so powerful, every culture imposes some limits on sexual choice. There are taboos against certain forms of sexual expression: sex with yourself, with others of the same sex, with family, with children, with unconsenting partners, with animals. Some condemn masturbation as “self-abuse”? What about sodomy, child abuse, incest, rape, or bestiality?

Many conclude that, as Kleinberg puts it, “[t]he only safe way to avoid the slippery slope of lust is to abstain entirely from sex.” Dante wrote that to purge yourself of lust requires you to walk through flames. Unforgiven lustful sinners pay for their lack of control by being blown around by turbulent hurricane winds forever.

The humanist in me asks: why not just practice a little self-control and take into account the feelings of anyone else involved? Can’t a deep breath and some respectful conversation avoid that slippery slope?

Another sin of “excessive love of a good thing” is gluttony. Pope Gregory the Great wrote, “The glutton eats before he’s hungry and continues to eat when he is no longer hungry; he craves costly and gratuitously sophisticated dishes; he eats too much and with excessive eagerness; he seeks not sustenance, but pleasure; he becomes the slave of his stomach and of his palate.” Gregory believes we need sufficient nutrition to assure health, but nothing more. As the Stoic philosopher Seneca explained it, “The body’s needs are few: it wants to be free from cold, to banish hunger and thirst with nourishment. If we long for anything more, we are exerting ourselves to serve our vices, not our needs.”

Perhaps that’s true, but over-eating can have deep psychological roots and threats of hell may not work so well. The anxiety it produces might even lead to more binge eating. Many people go to the marketplace for answers and spend some of the $22 billion dollars a year spent by Americans on weight loss products.

I would encourage a combination of behavioral supports – drinking water before meals, keeping junk food out of the house, and using smaller plates – and individual or group counseling. Eating is such a primal part of being human that it may take time, but adding the threat of damnation for such a sin seems counter-productive.

Regarding the third sin arising from excessive love of good things is greed. According to the church, greed arises when materialism obscures things of higher value. Thomas Aquinas wrote that greed takes over when “man condemns things eternal for the sake of temporal things." Cardinal Manning explained that greed "plunges a man deep into the mire of this world, so that he makes it to be his god".

Perhaps. But isn’t the devil in the details? How much is enough? After all, people are hoarding toilet paper now.

Some may say that most – not all - of us in this room are guilty of the sin of greed. I know I have more than I need. Perhaps I should be punished as Dante suggests - tied up and laid face down for all eternity, our faces mired in the dirt for our pursuit of earthly things. That will teach us that money is the “root of all evil.”

While I agree that personally I have more things than I need, I think the biggest problem with greed is that it has been encouraged by our system and taken to extremes. So let me talk some about some problems with capitalism.

CAPITALISM AND SIN

In much western culture, greed is encouraged. In The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith argued that individual avarice leads to collective good. Gordon Gekko, played by Michael Douglas in the film Wall Street, preached that “Greed is Good…. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all its forms – greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge – has marked the upward surge of mankind.” Greed is good!

Advertisers promote the urges behind lust and gluttony and tell us not to worry about greed. “You deserve limitless sexual satisfaction, and we’ll sell you Viagra and pornography to help. You deserve the finest foods and the largest helpings. Go ahead – get an extra-large popcorn – it’s only ten cents more, for goodness sakes. In the drive through, make that a Whopper, and – what the heck - supersize me! In capitalism there are no sins of “excessive love” because there’s no such thing as excess.

Consumerism encourages envy. Advertisements glorify having better looks, better car, better lawn than your neighbor. With the illusion of unbounded abundance, capitalism promotes unceasing purchases and easy credit. On top of that, spending is patriotic!

Adler started Ethical Culture to fight raging capitalism and rampant materialism. To promote the best that we can be.

HUMANIST PSYCHOLOGY AND SIN

So, what are humanists to do with sin in general? I don’t think we should accept the Christian version of sin nor the capitalist rejection of it in favor of consumerism. But I think we have to address it more fully, especially because some think we humanists are most responsible for it. Had Adam obeyed God, we might still be innocently lounging about in paradise! Ethical Culture Leader Joe Chuman links sin to the very birth of humanism in his book, Speaking of Ethics. He writes, “Adam’s eating of the fruit was therefore the first act of secularization, of creating a world in which God was not necessary. In a sense, Adam was the first humanist.” (p. 60)

While Adam is a fictional character, Petrarch is identified by many as the real father of humanism. Even though he was a Christian, he believed that human reason, creativity, and goodness gave our species tremendous potential and responsibility for building civilization. Such optimism inspired Renaissance humanism.

This optimism arises centuries later in “humanist psychology.” While it acknowledges the horrible things that humans do – we lie, we cheat, we pillage – humanist psychology rejects the notion of unforgivable original sin. Pioneers in humanist psychology, like Charlotte Buhler stressed the positive and self-regulating agency of human beings. Another pioneer, Abraham Maslow, wrote, “As far as I know we just don’t have any intrinsic instincts for evil.”

Another humanist psychologist, Carl Rogers, sums it up this way: “For myself, though I am very well aware of the incredible amount of destructive, cruel, malevolent behavior in today’s world—from the threats of war to the senseless violence in the streets—I do not find that this evil is inherent in human nature.” Humanist psychology celebrates our many acts of random kindness.

The underlying optimism of humanist psychology is absent in much Christian portrayals of sin. In his article entitled, “A Humanist Looks at Sin,” Joe Chuman explains, “[t]he problem with the notion of sin is that it makes a fetish and a celebration out of a particular aspect of human experience. It seizes upon and dogmatizes pessimism. In this sense it partakes of its own romanticism. But it is a joyless celebration that we could well do without. I submit that life is hard enough without the additional burdens imposed by the concept of sin.”

Indeed. Life is hard enough without beating ourselves up for being flesh and blood; for being animals with needs and desires. Do these needs and desires lead us astray now and then? Of course, but so too do our over-zealous attacks on them. No one is perfect, and we shouldn’t demand others be perfect. Isn’t that what Jesus was trying to get at when he confronted a mob about to attack an adulterous woman and called forth, “If any of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”

In An Ethical Philosophy of Life, in a chapter entitled “The Shadow of Sin,” Felix Adler writes, “No one can escape doing evil. If not in its grosser forms, then in ways subtler and more complex, but not therefore less evil, every one is bound to make acquaintance with guilt. He need not go out of his way to seek occasion, let him see to it that he improves the occasion when it comes, as inevitably it will, to his spiritual advantage.” In other words, we should learn from our shortcomings. It is to our “spiritual advantage,” Adler reminds us, to curb the excesses of our imperfect biological nature.

David Breeden, senior minister of the First Unitarian Society in Minneapolis and a leading religious humanist, points out that the seven deadly sins are generally “internal, instinctive drives that — when over-indulged — lead to poor personal health and anti-social actions.” This is true regarding the sins of excessive love of good things: lust, gluttony, and greed. Over-indulgence is, for Breeden, not an affront to God, but a “failure in genuine love for nature and humanity.”

How do we as humanists responsibly check hurtful desires and nurture genuine love of good things? I conclude by exploring three suggestions: nurture moderation; humbly accept limitations; and keep working to share good things with others.

NURTURE MODERATION

Let’s start by nurturing moderation. One lesser known of the aphorisms etched into the Temple of Apollo is simply, “Nothing too much.” This spirit guides Aristotle’s ethics. I believe it flowed out of the fact that he was the most naturalistic of the great ancient philosophers. He studied animals and plants. He saw how often they flourished when avoiding extremes such as drought or flood, burning sunlight or icy darkness. Moderation helps us grow.

For Aristotle, reason is not in constant opposition to bodily urges, but rather functions as a guide to help bodily needs be appeased in the right way, in the right place, at the right time. For Aristotle, it’s good to enjoy pleasurable things. Regarding food for example, it’s best not to over-indulge and not starve. Find that middle ground which cultivates the virtue of temperance. For Aristotle, Similarly, it is good to have a sense of self-worth. It is a healthy love of a good thing. Too little will lead into undue humility; too much will lead to vanity. The middle ground is appropriate pride, a “golden mean” between too much and too little. People sum up Aristotle teaching with the phrase, “all things in moderation.

Humanists often appreciate the wisdom of taking the “middle way” in navigating the Christian world of extremes - of light and dark, of good and evil, of god and the devil. In Humanism needs and desires of the body are not really “right” or “wrong”. Perhaps they are appropriate and inappropriate, depending on the time and place. But, sin is a social construct, and its meaning depends on context. In our lives let’s check hurtful desires and nurture genuine love through moderation.

HUMBLY ACCEPT LIMITATIONS

A second piece of advice: in the light of our ideals let us also humbly accept our limitations. Thanks to Joe Chuman I understand how theologian Reinhold Niebuhr saw sin arising from a paradox at the heart of human experience: while we live in this world, we can imagine a better one. For Niebuhr, humans live between two worlds – the ideal and the actual. In our actual world we live in a world where we fall short of our goals, and where our president is unable to deal effectively with our pandemic, with global change, and with many other important issues. It our ideal world we live up to our all our goals and we have political leadership that does the same. We have to learn to accept this inevitable gap between our ideals and our lived existence.

What, after all, are our alternatives? Here are alternatives: three false escapes, if you will. 1) We could deny the ideal, accept life for what it is, and do nothing to change it into something better. 2) We could turn to “mechanisms of escape,” as Niebuhr writes, “obliterate our anxiety or desensitize it by losing ourselves in drink or drugs.” A Christian might describe that as being lost in sin.

3) We try to escape the existential gap between ideal and actual by dissolving our selves into something greater than ourselves. We could deny individual autonomy and responsibility by giving up our will to God. We could do the same by joining a cult. Or a fascist group. Plenty of Germans escaped the painful dissonance of ideal memories of German glory clashing with the actual humiliation of World War I by joining the Nazi party. We choose too often to be led into deadly myth than be responsible for a painful presence.

A more noble path for humanists is to acknowledge the gap between the ideal and the actual, to carry the burden of unfulfilled aspirations. After all, for those of us privileged enough to have dreams in our lives, there is a duty to see the world as it is. As Teddy Roosevelt put it, “Keep your eyes on the stars, but feet on the ground.” What other choice do we have if we are to live fully?

SHARE GOOD THINGS WITH OTHERS

Third piece of advice: let’s share good things with others. In seeking a Humanist response to “sin,” it should be of no surprise to you that I will conclude with an Ethical Humanist moral: we need to share good things with others. Too often classic Christian and western approaches to sin are self-referential. It’s all about the purity of our own souls. It’s all about our own damnation or redemption. It’s going to hell or sitting at the right hand of god.

Both sin and the extreme methods to purge ourselves of it distract from our relationships with other people. Let’s not revel in sins of the flesh nor waste precious energy punishing ourselves for being animals. Let’s work to extend the good life to the millions of people struggling to survive, struggling to enjoy the pleasures we are lucky enough to enjoy.

So as humanists working together, let’s reject the punishing concept of sin and instead nurture moderation, humbly accept our limitations, and work to share the good things in life

Thank you.

The “7 Deadly Sins” through a Humanist Lens

Most humanists reject the concept of “sin” as it relates to divine judgment. Many liberal religions embrace the idea that human nature, as flawed as it is, is basically good. So how do humanists process those personality traits condemned by the bible as “deadly”? How should we regard pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth? Come explore with Hugh Taft-Morales some of the different approaches to how we biological creatures might process these traits within the context of our lofty ideals.

AEU Response to COVID-19

Tue, 31 Mar 2020 15:20:53 GMT

Dear NoVES Members and Friends -

I hope that all of you are doing as well as possible during our times of "sheltering in place". Isolation can be a time of loneliness and not being able to work is a source of financial hardship to many of us. I am available for conversations and I welcome phone calls to break up my day. Call me at 919-672-9076 for a chat if you need a listening ear.

I am sharing the American Ethical Union's response to COVUD-19. It was sent out earlier on the AEU's President's List. I thought that it should receive wider distribution. It provides links to useful resources, articles, and meetings.

May your virus be brief and your quarantine peaceful,

Randy

AEU Response to COVID-19

The AEU is providing or considering providing the following services for our member societies during this current crisis. Feedback about other services you would like to see are very welcome!

Shared “Connections” Calendar on the AEU web site, listing platforms and other events offered by member Societies.
- https://aeu.org/ethical-community/
- How to get your Society's events on the calendar
“Connections” forum to allow members to share information about the current situation. There is already a lot of great information there.
- https://aeu.org/ethical-community/
Virtual Sunday Ethical Education for Kids -- This is envisioned as a collaborative effort between the AEU and interested Societies. The goal is to offer a joint program with breakout rooms for different age groups. Existing SEEKhttps://docs.google.com/document/d/1RKFW2oZGKzdyrNv0cuJVs4coV2MGFUYxaWIH-6fTtxg/edit?usp=sharing volunteers or staff from the interested Societies would help to plan and run the sessions.
- Timeline: First Virtual SEEK session on Sunday, April 5
- Planning meeting on Thursday, April 2 at 7pm Eastern Time. https://zoom.us/j/349334424
Support call for Societies with Buildings, on coping with COVID-19.
- Thursday, April 2 at 8pm Eastern Time. https://zoom.us/j/978170933
Information about conducting Virtual Platforms and other events.
- Document about online Platforms has been drafted and is being reviewed. You are welcome to add your own comments.
- - Draft Document about Online PlatformsUsing Zoom for Online Platforms
- A similar document about other kinds of gatherings will also be created.
- An information-sharing call will be scheduled for next week. Feedback about whether a “Zoom Platforms 101” session or a cross-Society information sharing session would be more useful is most welcome! If there is enough interest, happy to do both.
The AEU is exploring whether it is possible to offer a pastoral counseling service for Societies which do not have a Leader.
- Timeline: we expect to have determined if this is possible by early next week.
- If it is not possible to do this with our current Leaders, alternate possibilities are being explored.
The AEU is interested in feedback about how the Visiting Leaders’ Program can be useful to Societies during this time.

What else can we do to support our Member Societies at this time?

For your enjoyment, there have been a number of articles published mentioning Ethical Societies and the AEU during this crisis.

Ethics during the coronavirus - Bart Worden
These Secular Groups Are Bringing People Together During A Pandemic - Liz Singer
'We're All In This Together': Keeping Faith Despite Coronavirus - James Croft

An Imagined Letter from Covid-19 to Humans

Fri, 20 Mar 2020 13:18:15 GMT

My wife Sarah found this poem in a Newsletter that she receives. It spoke to my feelings at this present moment.

Randy

An Imagined Letter from Covid-19 to Humans

Stop. Just stop.
It is no longer a request. It is a mandate.
We will help you.
We will bring the supersonic, high speed merry-go-round to a halt
We will stop
the planes
the trains
the schools
the malls
the meetings
the frenetic, furied rush of illusions and “obligations” that keep you from hearing our
single and shared beating heart,
the way we breathe together, in unison.
Our obligation is to each other,
As it has always been, even if, even though, you have forgotten.
We will interrupt this broadcast, the endless cacophonous broadcast of divisions and distractions,
to bring you this long-breaking news:
We are not well.
None of us; all of us are suffering.
Last year, the firestorms that scorched the lungs of the earth
did not give you pause.
Nor the typhoons in Africa, China, Japan.
Nor the fevered climates in Japan and India.
You have not been listening.
It is hard to listen when you are so busy all the time, hustling to uphold the comforts and conveniences that scaffold your lives.
But the foundation is giving way,
buckling under the weight of your needs and desires.
We will help you.
We will bring the firestorms to your body
We will bring the fever to your body
We will bring the burning, searing, and flooding to your lungs
that you might hear:
We are not well.
Despite what you might think or feel, we are not the enemy.
We are Messenger. We are Ally. We are a balancing force.
We are asking you:
To stop, to be still, to listen;
To move beyond your individual concerns and consider the concerns of all;
To be with your ignorance, to find your humility, to relinquish your thinking minds and travel deep into the mind of the heart;
To look up into the sky, streaked with fewer planes, and see it, to notice its condition: clear, smoky, smoggy, rainy? How much do you need it to be healthy so that you may also be healthy?
To look at a tree, and see it, to notice its condition: how does its health contribute to the health of the sky, to the air you need to be healthy?
To visit a river, and see it, to notice its condition: clear, clean, murky, polluted? How much do you need it to be healthy so that you may also be healthy? How does its health contribute to the health of the tree, who contributes to the health of the sky, so that you may also be healthy?
Many are afraid now.
Do not demonize your fear, and also, do not let it rule you. Instead, let it speak to you—in your stillness,
listen for its wisdom.
What might it be telling you about what is at work, at issue, at risk, beyond the threats of personal inconvenience and illness?
As the health of a tree, a river, the sky tells you about quality of your own health, what might the quality of your health tell you about the health of the rivers, the trees, the sky, and all of us who share this planet with you?
Stop.
Notice if you are resisting.
Notice what you are resisting.
Ask why.
Stop. Just stop.
Be still.
Listen.
Ask us what we might teach you about illness and healing, about what might be required so that all may be well.
We will help you, if you listen.

-Kristin Flyntz

Living at a Social Distance by Randy Best

Wed, 18 Mar 2020 17:41:46 GMT

Over the weekend concern about Coronavirus COVID-19 continued to accelerate. I posted a Facebook Live mini-platform Sunday morning and the NoVES Board met Sunday afternoon to consider ways of moving forward.

I drove back to Durham on Monday intending to fly to St. Louis on Wednesday to visit my mother and sister. Initially I thought that this would be all right. I last visited in October. I rationalized that my visit was past due and could be considered necessary travel. After discussing it with Sarah, I decided that I was being selfish. Traveling would go against the necessary social isolation needed to make it less likely that COVID-19 cases would spike and exceed the capacity of our healthcare system to provide necessary treatment. I canceled my flights (a time-consuming process) and car rental (just a click of a button).

A pandemic simulation article from the Washington Post appeared in my inbox. It illustrates the effects of unchecked spread, quarantine, and various levels of social distancing. It can be found here:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/world/corona-simulator/

This article reinforced in my mind the need for effective social distancing as a means to decrease the number of people who are ill at any given time. The main benefit of social distancing is not so much as decreasing the spread of the pandemic (although this could be part of the outcome), as it is spreading it out over time to avoid exceeding our ability to care for those who become seriously ill from COVID-19.

I am hunkered down in Durham. My daughter Madeline, her husband Jon, and their two sons, David (5) and Orson (3) along with their day care person Laura, escaped from New York City, driving through the night on Monday to join us. Like other families, we are social distancing as a group from the world outside of our yard.

I realize that I am privileged in my response to the necessary social distancing. I am not by myself and am actually experiencing more social interaction than usual. It is great to be in the company of others. I realize that many people are much more isolated and, over the next several weeks, loneliness and depression may become issues for them.

I am also fortunate that I can work from home, exploring ways to connect with others through social media. I am also fortunate that my financial resources are sufficient to keep me going over the next several weeks – or even months if necessary.

As I said in my Facebook Live mini-platform, there is opportunity in this crisis. I wish this was true for everyone. There are many who will lose income, or even their jobs. It is not surprising that social distancing will have the greatest impact on the poor.

The Federal Government was slow to respond, initially meeting the crisis with misinformation and denials. Legislation that can provide relief is now being considered. I hope that it is directed at those who are financially struggling rather than corporations. It remains to be seen. I will certainly contact my representatives to advocate for assistance to those who need it most.

Meanwhile, our community can try new things, new ways to socially interact at a distance. New ways of encouraging and supporting each other. Expect to see announcements of specific events in the near future.

Also, please let NoVES know if you need help by reaching out to our Caring Committee at caring@noves.org. We will figure out how to get you the help that you need.

Call or e-mail friends when you think of them. Stay more in touch than usual. It can lift spirits and help us get through this time of social distancing.

Take good care of yourselves.

Yours in Ethical Community,

Randy

Moving through Sadness to Action and Solidarity

Fri, 07 Feb 2020 03:40:54 GMT

It is interesting in the verbal exchanges surrounding the Senate’s impeachment trial, whatever claims and insinuations made by the Republican Defense Team, and the President, were the opposite of the truth.

It was not a perfect call. The “transcript” call summary did not exonerate the President. There was clearly a quid pro quo to extort a sham investigation of the Bidens by Ukraine. The President impeded witness testimony and withheld documents. If the President’s actions are not impeachable, then nothing is impeachable and this President is truly above the law.

The House rose to its Constitutional responsibility to hold the President accountable for his “high crimes and misdemeanors”. The Republican party engaged in a wholly partisan denial of these facts fearing losing their grip on power and reprisals from the Whitehouse. In a craven act of political irresponsibility, the Senate enabled the President’s actions. Worse misbehavior will surely follow.

I never thought that I would be admiring the political courage of Mitt Romney, who voted to convict on one of the articles of Impeachment. Romney was guided by the seriousness that he held his commitment to be a fair and impartial juror. He felt bound by his oath to do so. That he was the sole Senator who did was profoundly disturbing. He has my admiration.

Acquittal by the Senate was no surprise. Everyone saw it coming. I am saddened nonetheless. When facts are established, then ignored in such a spectacular fashion, then Presidential power reigns unchecked, I fear for the fate of our democracy.

Other than being frustrated and sad, what can I do?

Recently I have started writing my representatives and calling their offices in response to requests that appear in my e-mail. I do not know exactly why I was reluctant to do so previously. I felt that my voice would not make a difference. I justified inaction by claiming more pressing concerns. I am making this small change – even though it may be mostly for my sense that I am doing something rather than nothing. I want to extend my action to signing the petitions that also pop up in my inbox. I do sometimes, although so many of them seem more interested in soliciting contributions. I know that these changes of mine are not much. I will continue anyway.

Another avenue that I pursue to assuage my feeling of helplessness and despair is to seek out the company of family and friends. Being with those that I care about lifts my spirits. Sharing my frustrations and concerns, and listening to the concerns of others lets me feel that I am not alone.

Dark times are one possible future that I want to prevent. I cannot do it alone.

Coming together in community takes more effort for me when I am downhearted. I find that takes an extra effort to get out of the house. I never regret making the effort.

I want to encourage all of you to check out the NoVES meeting this Sunday when Louis Clark will present: Truth-Telling in the Trump Era: Harnessing the Power of Whistleblowing to Help Preserve Democracy. Community could lift your spirits and hearing his words could rekindle hope.

Yours in Ethical Community,

Randy Best, NoVES Leader

Killing Does Not Make Us Safer

Fri, 03 Jan 2020 19:29:00 GMT

Like many of you, this morning I woke up to the news that an American drone strike had killed

Qasem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force unit near Baghdad International Airport, in Iraq. The airstrike also killed Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy of the Popular Mobilization Units, an Iraqi Shiite Militia that has been incorporated into the Iraqi Army. President Donald Trump personally authorized this action.

This is seen as a good thing by some, showing how tough and relentless the United States is in protecting its citizens and its interests. Others are skeptical about the probable outcome of this killing, and I include myself among them.

After the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003, ostensibly to overthrow Saddam Hussein and his “weapons of mass destruction”, it soon became clear that there was no after-battle plan for establishing peace and security in Iraq. The region was immediately thrown into chaos and armed conflict as various ethnic groups, nations, and their proxies, vied for power and control. Political instability in Iraq spilled over into Syria leading to civil war and creation of the radical ISIS caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria. Alliances formed that ultimately defeated ISIS. This brief moment of cooperation dissolved along with the caliphate as former allies turned on each other.

Iraq and much of Syria remain an unstable mess with decimated populations and infrastructure and tens of thousands of refugees seeking safety in Europe. The human cost to the people of the region is over one million dead in Iraq and Syria.

I do not understand how assassinating Qasem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis makes anyone any safer. Both of these men are part of military institutions with existing command structures. They are easily replaced by others who will continue to pursue similar policies.

These assassinations escalate the animus currently directed at Americans in Iraq and encourage retaliation by others, such as Iran.

All of this strategic calculus misses the larger moral point. Killing is wrong. Assassination is even more heinous. Extraordinary justification must be provided to exercise killing at the press of a button. No compelling justification has been provided. Killing these men will not prevent their organizations from continuing to pursue their plans for Iraq. It will only inflame the outrage and hate.

My cynical side sees this morning’s news as the first step in escalating conflict in Iraq leading to direct military confrontation with Iran. War presidents are more likely to be re-elected.

Gandhi said, “An eye for and eye makes the whole world blind.” I think that he had something here. This morning’s assassinations will not let me sleep better at night.

Randy Best, NoVES Leader

Green Burial in North Carolina

Mon, 02 Dec 2019 20:35:48 GMT

The afternoon before Thanksgiving, my mother-in-law, Nancy Howe, died at age 95. She was surrounded by family members and listening to my daughter Alicia's music as her body shut down.

Nancy was an avid gardener and loved walking in the woods. She had considered cremation, but was drawn to Green Burial as a better way for her to return to nature and nurture the earth. Green Burials need to happen fairly quickly since no preservatives are added to the body.

It is always a good time to consider what you want to have done for you when your time comes and to communicate your wishes to those who will be making the decisions for you. Nancy had done this.

I am posting a few pictures of the Green Burial as a meditation on life, death, and our closeness to nature.

The Gravesite is prepared.

Nancy's Shroud is lowered.

Petals and Leaves are added.

Everyone helps fill the grave.

Shrubs are planted. The Earth abides.

Family Events Can Be Challenging

Tue, 26 Nov 2019 03:45:07 GMT

A not so tense family moment

Holidays can be great family times. Holidays can also be times of stress with multi-leveled, complex family relationships.

My opening words today were:

Do not kid yourself, a conflict is never about the surface issue. It’s about one’s unsaid, untreated, and unhealed wounds.

This can be very true and is something to always keep in mind… though sometimes a disagreement, is just a difference of opinion.

Many of you may live inside your own information bubble, interacting mostly with others who mostly agree with you. I know that I spend most of my time in my information bubble. Holiday events can be a time when we venture outside of our information bubbles and spend time with family members. We may be with people - who we care deeply about - whose opinions are very different than our own.

How do you react to a relative saying, “Trump is the greatest president ever!”

Laughter, while tempting, would probably not lead to a considerate exchange.

Instead, pause, take a moment to reflect, before responding. Consider…

What is the history of this relationship?

Do you want to repeat familiar patterns of disagreement and conflict?

Is it necessary to address this disagreement? Can it be avoided?

This could be a time to value relationship over opinion.

Instead of confronting your relative, it may be a chance to lean in…

“Tell me more about why you think that Trump is the greatest president?”

Listen. Ask honest questions. Listen some more. Thank them for helping you better understand where they are coming from.

Leaning in might help, or you may choose another way to respond.

Family can disagree about many things. Many are much more personal than political disagreement. In such cases I think that my opening words are worth considering:

Do not kid yourself, a conflict is never about the surface issue. It’s about one’s unsaid, untreated, and unhealed wounds.

Whatever you do, do it with the commitment to bringing out the best in others. Consideration can make a difference.

Yours in Ethical Community,

Randy Best

U.S. CLIMATE STRIKE – Friday, September 20, 2019

Wed, 18 Sep 2019 22:46:18 GMT

In December 2018, I presented a NoVES platform titled “The Moral Necessity of Geo-Engineering”. I advocated investigating how we could use technology to reduce global temperature increases as a temporary stop gap while the world moved to minimizing our carbon emissions.

Like many others (excluding the President and Republican members of Congress) I believe that the Climate Crisis poses an existential threat to life on earth as we know it.

[from https://actionnetwork.org/event_campaigns/us-climate-strikes?source=nextgen-america&referrer=group-nextgen-america]

On September 20, three days before the UN Climate Summit in NYC, young people and adults will strike all across the US and world to demand transformative action be taken to address the climate crisis. Millions of us will take the streets to demand a right to a future, and we’re inviting you to

#strikewithus

Find a strike near you… Whether you’re 7 or 77, you’re invited to join the movement.

For more information, please visit strikewithus.org.

I invite you to attend a Climate Strike event near you. Nearby events are:

Falls Church City Climate Strike
Friday, September 20, 2019 • 8:00 AM
Browns Hardware
100 W Broad St
Falls Church , VA 22046

Herndon Climate Strike
Friday, September 20, 2019 • 7:00 AM
Spring Street Park 38.9637, -77.3833
500 Van Buren St
Herndon, VA 20170

Arlington VA Strike
Friday, September 20, 2019 • 12:00 PM
In front of Ellen M. Bozman Government Center
2100 Clarendon Blvd
Arlington, VA 22207

DC Climate Strike
Friday, September 20, 2019 • 11:00 AM
Starting at John Marshall Park and marching to the Capitol Building
John Marshall Park
Washington, DC 20001

It is essential that we start responding to the need to reduce or eliminate human contributions to global temperature increases.

For me, attending a Climate Strike is an important step for me to acknowledge the magnitude of this problem and begin to make changes in my life to do my part.

Together we can become the force to change our consumption and save the planet.

YOU ARE INVITED!

Tue, 16 Jul 2019 19:38:53 GMT

What does August in my neck of the woods in North Carolina have that is magical and truly special? The Paperhand Puppet Intervention's annual show at the Forest Theater on UNC Campus in Chapel Hill. This year's show is...

The show uses giant puppets on bamboo poles, people wearing puppet heads, dancers, costumed people on stilts, and a live band with original music.

Various family members participated in this show over the past 20 years - my wife Sarah has been a company member for the past 19 years. I was even in the show once and was the front house manager for 6 years.

The Artistry, stories, and originally of Paperhand Puppet Intervention is extraordinary. I think that the company is in a class by itself.

I am inviting any and all of you to take a break in August and come down for the weekend show. Yes, it will be very hot. I solve this by showing up early at the outdoor theater to get good seats (its open seating) and having a picnic supper before the show.

Showtimes are:

Every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evening in August at 7:00 PM (pre-show music at 6:20). Admission is a suggested contribution of $20 for adults and $10 for kids (no one is turned away for lack of funds).

My house can accommodate several visitors, and I am happy to do so (be warned, we don't have AC but lots of fans). There are also many Air BnB places nearby.

It is a 4 and one half hour drive from Northern Virginia (which I know well). Well worth the trip!

Come one, come all - you will not be disappointed.

Drop me a line if you are coming.

- Randy Best

What I did on the 5th of July

Sat, 06 Jul 2019 00:14:53 GMT

What to do on the 5th of July? Go to the historical Stageville Plantation outside of Durham. Go to Horton Grove, the place where the slave quarters built in 1851 still stand on what was a 30,000 acre plantation with 900 slaves. Go to this place. Feel, imagine what life must have been like for these enslaved people. Participate in a community reading of Frederick Douglass' famous speech, What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?

Historical note:

In 1852, the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Association invited abolitionist, activist and statesman Frederick Douglass to speak at their July Fourth Independence Day Celebration in Rochester, N.Y.

He refused.

But he agreed to speak on July 5 instead.

Before an audience composed of Washington politicians, white abolitionists, and President Millard Fillmore, Douglass presented what still stands as one of history’s greatest example of speaking truth to power. Douglass’ unapologetic criticism of America’s hypocrisy still rings true to this very day.

Frederick Douglass' speech was printed out in numbered paragraphs so that participants could sign up to read a paragraph or two. Several children participated. Here is the section that I read.

What, then, remains to be argued? Is it that slavery is not divine; that God did not establish it; that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? There is blasphemy in the thought. That which is inhuman, cannot be divine! Who can reason on such a proposition? They that can, may; I cannot. The time for such argument is past.

At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. O! had I the ability, and could I reach the nation’s ear, I would, to-day, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced.

I was moved by this experience. I was dumbfounded that the slave quarters that I was standing in front of were built at around the same time that Frederick Douglas delivered his address.

Before the reading, the N.C. State historical site staff person read from the July 5th, 1865 Raleigh newspaper about the Independence Day celebration after the Civil War. She mentioned jubilation in the streets - for it was a time of great hope for many.

She did not mention that it was a brief window of opportunity for a better society, what could be, before reconstruction was abandoned and white supremacy reasserted itself.

This was the first reading of Frederick Douglas at Horton Grove. It will now be an annual event. If I am in Durham next July 5th, I will definitely go again. My hope will need recharging by then.

- Randy

More of the 2019 AEU Assembly

Thu, 04 Jul 2019 19:19:48 GMT

I thought that I would be able to do a daily posting from the AEU Assembly in Tampa. As the level of activity accelerated on Saturday and Sunday, things happened too fast for me to record them.

I planned to catch up during the five days after the assembly when I was taking care of my brother-in-law Ben, who has frontal lobe dementia, so that Tricia, my sister-in-law, could have a break. The care-taking was not too difficult but I was too distracted to accomplish much. We walked on the beach, I cooked and froze meals, Ben binge watched season after season of West Wing. Being there became a meditation on the fragility of life and the importance of being present.

Ben builds a drip sandcastle on the beach.

Now much time has passed and rather than mining my memory and trying to make sense of my notes, I thought that I would leave it to the professionals and share an article on the Assembly written by Emily Newman, a communications staffer for the AEU and AHA.

https://thehumanist.com/commentary/the-freedom-and-beauty-of-assembly-ethical-humanists-strive-to-reclaim-democracy-for-all

Please do check it out. I found it to be informative and inspiring.

Randy

Friday at the Assembly

Sat, 22 Jun 2019 13:25:32 GMT

As always, Friday was a busy day at the Assembly.

After the State of the Ethical Union presented by Bart Worden, I presented an afternoon workshop on How Democracy is Practiced in Ethical Societies.

Afterwords, I went to a workshop on Engaging Your Group - and You - in Electoral Politics. It was presented by Ron Millar (Center for Freethought Equality), Sarah Levin (Secular Coalition for America), David Williamson (Central Florida Freethought Community), and Florida State Representative Jennifer Webb.

Some of my take-aways from this workshop:

Many State Legislatures have Secular Caucuses, work with them
Ethics and Religion are not synonyms (I knew that)
Promote secular values of Freedom, Inclusion, Equality, and Knowledge
We need more "sustained thoughtful conversations"
Nobody is going to come save us - we must mobilize
Canvasing - Deep Canvasing is very important
Voter participation of non-religious is half that of evangelicals
Need to reinforce behavior of politicians whose ideas you support

After dinner, we were treated to the rousing music of Lindsey Wilson.

This was followed by seeing Leader-in-Training Je' Hoopers movie of his unique re-imaging of encounters between Felix Adler and W.E.B. DuBois, HUMANITAS.

A busy day. Great events. Great conversations.

Icebreaker at the Assembly

Fri, 21 Jun 2019 13:01:00 GMT

Last night at the AEU Assembly in Tampa, to get the show on the road Je' Hooper orchestrated a version of "Family Feud" he called "Society Feud" where teams played the game. It was tremendous fun and very, very funny. A good time was had by all.

Before the AEU Assembly in Tampa

Wed, 19 Jun 2019 14:23:37 GMT

I am in Tampa at a meeting of the National Leaders Council prior to the AEU Assembly that starts on Friday.

I am inspired to share a letter to the editor written by Bart Worden published this morning in the Tampa Bay Times:

Column: After Pulse and Parkland, let’s put our faith in ethics

Tampa Bay Times/Bart Worden

Last week the country mourned as we remembered the 49 who were killed at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. Two days earlier, we witnessed more lives lost at Virginia Beach. Politicians once again offered thoughts and prayers but, as has become increasingly clear, prayers are not putting an end to senseless violence. We need to put more time and resources into making positive connections between people and building trust in, and appreciation for, one another. We need to build a more ethical culture.

Americans from across the country will converge in Tampa this week for the American Ethical Union’s (AEU) 104th annual assembly. Our members follow ethical humanism, a non-theistic religion of ethics founded in 1876. Today, 23 Ethical Culture Societies exist across the country, including the beginnings of one here in Tampa. The people gravitating toward ethical humanism reflect a growing national trend of Americans losing faith in legacy religions in the face of seemingly intractable issues such as the plague of gun violence.

Florida is part of this trend. While 70 percent of Floridians identify as Christians, the second highest percentage belongs to “unaffiliated” (24 percent), according to the Pew Forum. Nationally, there has been a sharp decline in church attendance over the past 20 years and a 2004 poll found that on any given weekend, only about 14 percent of Floridians attended church. A key factor in that decline, according to Gallup, is an increasing number of Americans with no religion at all.

To be sure, faith is still tremendously important to Americans. Pew found that the majority of Floridians have some sort of belief in God. And I’ve been heartened to see faith leaders support advocacy for gun reform. But as more Americans search for ways to do their part to affect positive change in the country, they are seeking ways to combine their faith with activism.

Members of the ethical culture movement focus on how to live an ethical life rather than worship a particular god or gods. We aim to build communities in which each person’s unique worth is appreciated, communities who work to build an ethical culture that fair and compassionate. We recognize that faith can divide people rather than bring them together so we focus on ethical understanding and action rather than on belief or disbelief in deity.

People seek out ethical culture because they want communities that value action over words. That’s why our motto is “deed before creed.” It’s also why we put so much emphasis on positive action and why we are putting more energy into establishing more groups in more places — including the Tampa Bay Area.

We know there are like-hearted people in Florida who strive to make a more ethical culture. One of our oldest members, Dunedin resident Ed Ericson, was raised as a Southern Baptist but found ethical humanism inspired him toward ethical action. A leader of both the New York Society for Ethical Culture and the Washington Ethical Society, Ed led desegregation efforts, founded the Center for Moral Democracy, and lobbied Congress and the Selective Service System to eliminate built-in discrimination against non-theists. He was later told it was his testimony that convinced senators to make this change.

Prioritizing ethics and social action over belief may be the best way to prevent tragedies like Parkland and Pulse and, ultimately, get our country back on track. Christian leaders like Shane Claiborne are advocating for gun control and distancing themselves from extreme interpretations of religion. He and others like him stand on the same side of youth activists like the brave students from Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School. Their activism was a driving force behind then-Gov. Rick Scott signing a bill to ban bump stocks. We will honor two teachers from Marjorie Stoneman Douglas — Kimberly Krawczyk and Dr. Jacob Anderson — at our assembly in Tampa this weekend for their school’s remarkable activism.

The continued mass shootings since Pulse and Parkland show that our prayers are not being answered. People of all faiths must move beyond prayer to demand action from our elected officials to protect our citizens from the violence and terror of guns. There are ethical people all over. Let’s find each other, build communities, and work together to build a more caring — and less violent — society.

Bart Worden is the executive director of the American Ethical Union, and clergy leader of the Ethical Culture Society of Westchester in New York.

Hope that you enjoy this as I did.

Humanist International Board Member Charged With Sedition

Fri, 14 Jun 2019 17:00:11 GMT

I announced this at our NoVES meeting last Sunday and I wanted to make sure that members who did not attend were aware of this important human rights situation.

One of my main take-aways from the Humanists International General Assembly that I recently attended in Iceland is the alarming position of a Humanists International board member.

Gulalai Ismail, a women’s and human rights activist in Pakistan is under legal threat from the Pakistani government that has charged her with “sedition”. This charge poses a serious threat to her liberty and her life.

Hearing of the consequences of Gulalai Ismail advocating for a full investigation of the murder of a minor girl, highlights the peril that humanists face in many parts of the world.

Earlier this year, Andrew Copson, President of Humanists International, urged Gulalai to stay in the United Kingdom and seek asylum. She replied that she needed to return to Pakistan to continue her work for women’s and human rights. She said that if she was killed because of her efforts, it would serve as inspiration to others to take up the cause.

I am overwhelmed by Gulalai’s moral courage and selfless dedication. She is paying a high price for living her humanist values. It underscores the personal safety and freedom of expression that I experience.

The full article from the Humanists International website is included below.

Supporting “humanists at risk” is one of the activities of Humanists International. If you feel moved to help, consider making a donation to:

https://humanists.international/donate/

Additional information about the activities of Humanists International, can be found on their website:

https://humanists.international/

May 23, 2019

Gulalai Ismail faces “sedition” accusation for protesting injustice in child murder case

Human rights defender Gulalai Ismail faces the threat of arrest for “sedition” under the anti-terrorism act, after campaigning for justice in the case of a girl who was raped and murdered.

Gulalai Ismail is a women’s right activist, human rights defender, and was elected to the Board of Humanists International in 2017.

It was reported in Pakistani media today that an FIR (First Information Report) was raised against Gulalai Ismail in relation to a speech she gave at a rally earlier in the week. The accusation falls under the anti-terrorism act for “delivering seditious speeches and instigating masses against the state institutions”. Gulalai’s speech earlier in the week was widely circulated on social media. The rally and the speech were held to protest the rape and murder of a minor girl known as Farishta.

The body of Farishta was found near the capital’s Shahzad Town area after being allegedly raped. Her family said they had tried to file a missing person report with the police on 15 May, but it took police until 19 May to register the FIR in that case and, even then, a proper search was not initiated.

Protesters at the rally this week were objecting to the perceived lack of interest or progress in the case up to that point. Subsequent to the protests, the government and state authorities have pledged to take action on the case and investigate the apparent inaction of police services.

The accusation in the FIR is that this speech was “anti-state” or “seditious”. It is very common for some activists to be branded as “anti-state” or “seditious” in particular when they are critical of military or government actions constituting human rights violations.

Ismail has previously faced accusations of “blasphemy” for example around her work promoting women’s equality, and accusations of being “anti-state” for taking part in Pashtun rights protests and criticizing authorities including the military for human rights violations or failures of justice.

It is particularly concerning that Gulalai Ismail faces the prospect of arrest and detention again, having faced similar accusations several times in the past few years.

There is also significant social media activity surrounding the speech and the FIR, with elements accusing her of “anti-state” activities and posting photographs of her with international NGO contacts (including Humanists International Board members) with the hashtag: “#GulalaiPTMExposed”. (The repeated insinuation is that she is connected to or funded by “foreign” agencies. This is a common allegation against human rights defenders, which endangers the accused by casting them as traitors, terrorists or seditionists.)

Iceland Before the Humanist Conference

Fri, 31 May 2019 11:11:25 GMT

I enjoy traveling by myself. Moving through the world at my own pace. Deceiding what I will do next with minimal negotiation. Traveling becomes a contemplative experience played out in the unfamiliar.

I have been let loose in Reykjavik since Tuesday morning. I thought that a four-hour time difference would not amount to much, yet I am having trouble sleeping at the right times. I spend my time wandering about and drifting into random museums and restaurants.

I find it interesting when the English word for a country differs greatly from the native name. I may be wrong about this in this case but the art museum was called “Listasafn Islands - National Gallery of Iceland”. Googling “Listasafn Islands” only produces pages in Icelandic so I have more research to do.

The museum displayed interesting historical and contemporary Icelandic art. There was a special exhibit about an Icelandic video artist Stenia Vasulka and her Moravian husband Woody. After meeting in Europe and working there for a while, they relocated to New York City where they opened “The Kitchen”, a performance space in a hotel basement in 1971 (The Kitchen still exists, albeit in a different location – my daughter Madeline won a modern dance lighting design Obie award for a show that was in this space). The Vasulkas eventually moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where their work continues. I spent two hours absorbing various video snippets, everything from a Filmore East montage including Jimi Hendrix and Jethro Tull, to the artists talking about the meaning and purpose of art. Artists talking about their Art and Musicians talking their music fascinate me.

I am told that I am experiencing unusually favorable weather – cool crisp blue skies. The city is beautiful. It has its own unique domestic architecture with a welcome lack of reflective glass tall buildings.

Yesterday I did the tourist bit and visited the Blue Lagoon. The creativity involved in turning the hot water run-off from a geo-thermal power plant into a tourist spa shows some ingenuity. It was worth going - though I did not stay long.

After a few days of roaming about without successfully engaging in much conversation with any of the locals, I was pleased to meet a local musician, Teitur Magnusson, at a café over breakfast. I showed him my daughter Alicia’s Band (A Different Thread) YouTube channel and got a suggestion where I could go to hear some local music. Our conversation ranged from about music to the fate of the world. I bought his CD.

The Humanists International Conference starts this afternoon. I will switch gears and become social. I’m looking forward to it.

Reflections After Seminar on Violence in the Old Testament

Sat, 11 May 2019 17:04:53 GMT

Over the last several years, I have attended annual clergy seminars held at Judea Reform Congregation in Durham, North Carolina (my first home). The purpose of these seminars is to promote the understanding of Judaism among other denominations.

The subject of this year’s seminar was “Violence in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament”.

I thought that this would be very useful for me since my Biblical literacy is minimal and I cringe with incomprehension when reading some of the passages in the Old Testament (OT). I have always gotten something out of attending these seminars in the past and was ready to do so again.

Two Jewish Biblical scholars from Duke, Professors Carol and Eric Myers, and Rabbi Daniel Greybar, from Durham’s Temple Beth El, comprised the presentation panel.

Eric Myers led with the idea that a 2,500-year-old text, with portions that are even older, is bound to be challenging to people today who may have difficulty engaging with it in a meaningful way.

He acknowledged that the OT is replete with violence, genocide, and wholesale slaughter. He cautioned that it is important to avoid a literal interpretation of the text. Biblical stories are there to illustrate some lesson. The Jewish tradition of biblical analysis and commentary has produced, and continues to produce, deeper interpretations of the text.

Eric Myers suggested that different readings of the OT produce greater insights – redemptive readings, liberation readings, readings of justice and righteousness.

Carol Myers scholarship looks at the OT from a feminist perspective. She pointed out that violence against women in the OT has been used to justify subordination and violence against women. She sees stories in the OT as literary constructs – not historical accounts.

She gave examples of how particularly horrific OT accounts such as Judges 19 that contains mob violence, sexual assault, gang rape, and dismemberment must be read in context of the first and last passages that book-end this section. The first section reads – this is what happens when the nation is not united. The last section reads – this is what happens without a united support of the monarchy. Read this way the passage becomes a warning rather than a chronicle of actual events.

Carol Myers followed this with other examples, some with analysis of the societal traditions of that time.

Rabbi Daniel Greybar spoke of the challenges of steering communities that consider these texts to be sacred. His approach is that we must be claimed by these texts, balancing this commitment with the potential for abuse. It is necessary to reclaim scripture from those who use it to justify violence.

All of the panelists dispelled the stereotypical understanding that the Hebrew Bible is a nasty piece of work that has been superseded by the New Testament, the simplistic trope that the Old Testament God is Violent and the New Testament is Loving. It is more nuanced and complicated than that.

My understanding of violence in the OT was broadened by the panel’s presentation. I remain puzzled by the power that ancient words and the traditions they have produced have on contemporary people. Saddled with horrific biblical passages, scholars and clerics have found ways to understand historical context and come to different interpretations. I suppose that there is little choice given the material that they have to work with.

Afterwards, I began reflecting on my Humanist/Ethical Culture tradition and what shortcomings exist in our literature and practices.

Ethical Culture’s congregational movement began in the late 1800’s. It’s founder, Felix Adler, introduced some new ideas about universal human worth and dignity, social justice, and societal reform. Unfortunately, Adler also had a traditional Victorian view of women’s roles and limitations. It was many years later that Ethical Culture recognized the equality of women and had women serving as Ethical Society Leaders. Although Ethical Culture always affirmed the worth and dignity of everyone, only recently have people of color assumed leadership roles in Ethical Culture.

The Humanist Manifesto (1933), Humanist Manifesto II (1973), and Humanism and Its Aspirations (2003) are other sources that I look to for inspiration. Full of ideas and commitments about making a better world these documents were written by Americans, mostly men, and reflect this bias – not so much by what they include but by what they leave out. Voices of oppressed and marginalized groups were not included.

I may be at an advantage in not needing to explain the moral values contained in iron-age stories, but there is much to be done in Ethical Humanism to fully live out my values. I am heartened that there are many women Ethical Culture Leaders and that there are people of color in our Leader Training program. This diversity in leadership has expanded my humanist outlook and is creating a more inclusive humanism. Ethical Humanism is expanding by incorporating new humanist perspectives. It is exciting to be part of this process.

Climate Change Views in Light of Notre Dame

Thu, 18 Apr 2019 16:27:23 GMT

After the fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral, David Roberts from VOX News, posted on the March for Science Facebook Group)

Watching something that took centuries to develop, something that can never entirely be recreated, disappear in the comparative blink of an eye – that, in slow motion is going to be the dominant feeling of the 21^st century. Only instead of buildings: glaciers, forests, species.

I would add that the deaths of tens of millions of people fighting for resources is another likely outcome of unchecked Climate Change.

It is curious what captures the human imagination.

Over $1 billion has been pledged by wealthy donors and corporations to restore Notre Dame. I do not begrudge the emotional connection that many have for this iconic Paris building. I wonder how to focus international imagination on taking steps to avert climate disaster.

Teen Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg commented:

“Yesterday, the whole world witnessed with sadness and despair the fire at Notre-Dame de Paris, but Notre-Dame will be rebuilt,” she said in a speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg. “I hope it has strong foundations and I hope we have strong foundations, but I’m not so sure.”

“I want to make you panic, I want you to act as if your house was on fire,” she said. “A lot of politicians have told me that panicking does not do any good. I agree, but when your house is on fire and you want to prevent it from collapsing, it is better to panic a little.”

“If your house were falling apart, you would no longer fly around the world in business class,” said the high school student, who came to Strasbourg by train from Stockholm. “You would not organize three emergency summits on Brexit and none on climate change.”

“Well, our house is falling apart and yet nothing is happening. We’ll have to switch to cathedral mode. I ask you to wake up and do what is necessary,” she said.

Cathedrals can be restored and so can the Earth’s climate, but necessary action on Climate Change is proceeding all too slowly.

Yet I do find hope in the words and actions of Greta Thunberg and the movement that she started, “Youth Climate Strike”.

Last month I attended a “Youth Climate Strike” gathering at the Capitol protesting the lack of action to combat Climate Change. This rekindled feelings that change is indeed possible.

About 1,500 youth were there with older folk hovering around the sidelines. The organizers determined that to counteract the lack of women in leadership positions, all of today’s presenters would be women, as are the three leaders of Youth Climate Strike.

It was energizing to hear “Generation Z” articulate many of the problems that face us and how they are interrelated. Here are some of the words that I heard:

Gen Z must confront: Climate Change, Racism, Classism, Colonialism, and Capitalism. Shake the system to the ground. Confront pollution. Eliminate single use plastic. Gen Z will be the first generation to experience the devastating effects of climate change.

Take back the Earth. Take it to the streets. Take it to the polls.

Climate Justice/Climate Action/Right to a livable Planet

Climate Justice, poverty, pollution – all are connected.

Invitations were sent to women in Congress to address the gathering. Ilhan Omar was the only person who showed up. Here are some of her words:

I ran on the Green New Deal. We cannot let fossil fuel CEO’s dictate how we use our planet. We cannot let this administration continue to put corporate interests over taking action to reduce global carbon levels.

I have introduced a Bill to end $20 billion in corporate welfare. This $20 billion will instead end homelessness in this country.

Representative Omar then turned to podium over to her teenage daughter, Isra Hirsi, who is one of the three national leaders of Youth Climate Strike. She spoke about how her climate activism began by joining the Green Club in her high school. She was the only person of color in the group. At first she did not fit in, but she stuck it out and became a national leader.

There were several interesting crowd chants that punctuated breaks in the presentations. My favorite was this call and response:

Solid as a Rock

Rooted as a Tree

We are here

Standing Strong

In our rightful place

I was inspired by the dedication and commitment of the people at this event to wok to ward saving the planet and ourselves.

After this gathering, my spirit was lifted and I smiled on my 12-mile bike ride home.

- Randy Best

2018 Election Reflection

Wed, 07 Nov 2018 22:22:42 GMT

Yesterday’s election results lifted my spirits. There were important races across the country where candidates ran on healthcare, and economic and social justice issues.

I am encouraged. I get to continue resisting and protesting policies from an administration that supports white nationalism, racism, sexism, and trans-phobia. I refuse to normalize the words and actions of the national political theater in the white house.

I am encouraged. I now have more allies in the U.S. House of Representatives, many of them women and people of color.

I am encouraged. The process of change takes time. There are the beginnings of a swell toward increased concern for the welfare of others.

Where will the country be after two more years when the presidential election rolls around?

I hold on to a naïve notion of human progress, despite the setbacks that I can see wherever I look. For, after all. I am encouraged.

Randy Best

NoVES Leader

Lifting the Curtain on the Supreme Court

Sun, 07 Oct 2018 00:16:21 GMT

During the presidential election many voters chose to ignore Donald Trump’s many shortcomings (which I will refrain from enumerating) because he was seen as the means to their end of changing the composition of the Supreme Court. The goal was to transform the Supreme Court and thereby remove constitutional protection for abortion and reverse decisions on numerous other social issues such as same sex marriage.

With the appointment of Brett Kavanaugh, these changes may come to pass.

I think that a Republican President could have done better than Brett Kavanaugh.

In his typical style, Donald Trump has left chaos in his wake.

DAHLIA LITHWICK wrote in Slate on Brett Kavanaugh’s Nomination:

Donald Trump is running the table. He has managed, with his Brett Kavanaugh nomination circus, to undermine the FBI, the judicial branch, the media, and the legal academy. He’s done all that while being openly malevolent and revanchist about the dignity of sexual assault survivors in America. Everything the man touches turns to garbage and it’s surely just a happy accident that the institutions—like courts and federal law enforcement—that have been arrayed against him will all come out of this Supreme Court nightmare both tarnished and diminished.

This is the “bad news” that has been ongoing since Trump assumed office.

Yet Brett Kavanaugh makes it all seem worse.

Kavanaugh’s bellicose, entitled, and nakedly partisan response to the charges of sexual assault against, him have not only revealed a judicial temperament ill-suited for the nation’s highest court, but exposed a partisan outlook that seems immune from deliberation.

Kavanaugh’s appointment is a testament to the craven nature of Senate Republicans. It is an affront to victims of sexual violence. It cracks the veneer on a broken political system.

I do not apologize for my anger and disgust about this most recent affront to my values. I struggle to find any kind of silver lining.

I am uncertain if Brett Kavanaugh’s conformation will have a positive impact on the upcoming mid-term elections. Partisan rancor remains at a fever pitch. Both sides are energized.

Kavanaugh’s confirmation has caused me to question my faith in democracy and my belief that increased voter participation, on whatever side, is a good thing.

Despite my misgivings and frustrations, I remain engaged in the political process.

There are candidates who share my commitment to supporting human worth and dignity and who believe that the government is there to promote basic human equality.

The recent setbacks in progress toward a more egalitarian society do not belie the over-reaching arc toward justice.

These are indeed tough times. I am going to go out and find friends to be with in silent solidarity as a balm to my wounded spirit. It is through others that I will restore my hope in the potential for human goodness.

A Memorial Service in St. Louis

Fri, 13 Jul 2018 19:43:47 GMT

I spent Independence Day flying back from a five-day visit to St. Louis. I grew up in St. Louis and my mother and sister still live there. At 89, mom still lives in the house that I grew up in. My older sister lives nearby. In addition to visiting them, a memorial service for my old friend, Nancy, drew me back to town.

It is interesting that I consider Nancy to be a good friend. She is the mother of high school friends of mine. Her oldest daughter Mary is a good friend of my sister. I was closer to James and Bridget. Nancy’s house was a place to hang out when we were in high school. It was a big old house and James’ lair was in the large attic space. Nancy was always welcoming to us kids and we would stop to chat with her before going about our business.

James and I were close friends doing international folk dancing and later modern dance together. I became estranged from James after he found Jesus in college. He gave up a promising professional dance performance career to become the youth dance minister at an evangelical mega Church. My lack of belief made it hard for me to accept James’ choice.

After her children left for college, Nancy took up folk dancing herself. I saw her regularly when I visited folk dancing during my return trips over the years.

Nancy’s memorial service was in an Episcopal Church. The service was heavy with ritual. It began with a parade of priests and other officiants led by a man carrying a cross (no incense though). The program included call and response, the Lord’s Prayer, Hymns, and communion – as well as words about Nancy by a priest and a few family members. Although I have attended Catholic, Jewish, Methodist, Evangelical, Unity, AME, UCC, and Unitarian memorials, because of my beliefs this was still unfamiliar territory for me.

At the reception afterwards, I had a chance to re-connect with many old friends, some who I have not seen in decades, including Peter who came in from Japan. I had many good conversations, including some with James.

Later that evening there was folk dancing – and another chance to re-connect and dance.

At the reception there was a large table piled deep with multiple copies of photos that Nancy had shot – there for the taking.

Included in this pile were many of my children at various ages and this one of Sarah and me that I particularly liked.

What are my take-aways from this trip? I continue to try to wrap my head around the power of symbolic rituals. They have never affected me but I recognize that many others find deep significance in them. I felt good re-connecting with old friends who I have lost touch with over the years. I am self-aware enough not to resolve to continue to stay in touch – because I know that I won’t. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s just in my nature. A poor excuse but a real one.

This trip made me think about who I was when the photo was taken and who I am now along with the good and bad that has happened in between. This trip helped me look back on my life. Something that I find to be beneficial now and then.

Thank you Nancy for who you were and the gifts that you and old friends have given me.

Randy Best

NoVES Leader

The Red Hen Quandary

Thu, 28 Jun 2018 17:47:39 GMT

By now I am sure that you are familiar with the kerfuffle surrounding the manager of the Red Hen Restaurant (a farm-to-table restaurant in Lexington, VA) recently denying service to Sarah Huckabee Sanders, President Trump’s White House Press spokesperson, and asking her to leave.

Sanders brought this to the Nation’s attention by tweeting about it on her official U.S. Government Twitter account. This caused Trump to use his official Twitter account to try to ruin the Red Hen’s business. What fun.

The Red Hen’s refusal prompted Editorialists, Pundits, and Facebook posters to opine about the line between civility to all and the personal choice to deny service.

These opinions often included specious comparisons to bakers refusing to make cakes for gay weddings, abortion protests, and screening party affiliation before letting people in the door. Let me clarify my disagreement with these points.

Gay marriage does no harm to anyone else in society. If you think that gay marriage contributes to society’s moral decline and corrupts the institution of marriage, you are much too late for that train. Instead, I suggest that you focus on things that produce real harm in marriages such as spousal abuse.

Abortion clinics and abortion providers have been subjected to picketing, customer harassment, and violent, sometimes fatal, assault. This level of confrontation does not equate to quietly asking someone to leave your restaurant.

No one has started denying service based on party affiliation. Sarah Huckabee Sanders was singled out as an individual who has a prominent public role in the Trump Administration. She was singled out because of her active support in actions that cause harm to others. Adam Gopnik wrote in newyorker.com:

… many have sided with the Red Hen on the grounds that, on this week in particular, a week which featured the Trumpites’ cruellest organized exclusion of others to date, to not exclude one of the organizers, or at least the mouthpiece, of that exclusion would amount to a moral failure.

So where do I draw the line between being open and inclusive and deciding not to include someone at my table?

My first thought was that the Red Hen went too far and everyone should be able to be served, even though they are involved in a reprehensible regime. After all, Ethical Humanism attributes worth and dignity to everyone without exception. Then I read some opinions that challenged my stance. I found another part of Adam Gropnik’s newyorker.com post particularly persuasive:

As a moral duty, we should share the pleasures and conversation of the table with as many people of as many views as we can—and, even when we can’t, we shouldn’t grumble too nastily under our breath at our kids when someone at a nearby table takes up the case for the Donald. (A self-directed moral rule, this.)

On the other hand, the Trump Administration is not a normal Presidential Administration. This is the essential and easily fudged fact of our historical moment. The Trump Administration is—in ways that are specific to incipient tyrannies—all about an assault on civility. To the degree that Trump has any ideology at all, it’s a hatred of civility—a belief that the normal decencies painfully evolved over centuries are signs of weakness which occlude the natural order of domination and submission. It’s why Trump admires dictators. Theirs are his values; that’s his feast. And, to end the normal discourse of democracy, the Trump Administration must make lies respectable—lying not tactically but all the time about everything, in a way that does not just degrade but destroys exactly the common table of democratic debate.

That’s Sarah Huckabee Sanders’s chosen role in life—to further those lies, treat lies as truth, and make lies acceptable. This is not just a question of protesting a particular policy; in the end there are no policies, only the infantile impulses of a man veering from one urge to another. The great threat to American democracy isn’t “policy” but the pretense of normalcy. That’s the danger, for with the lies come the appeasement of tyranny, the admiration of tyranny, and, as now seems increasingly likely, the secret alliance with tyranny. That’s what makes the Trump Administration intolerable, and, inasmuch as it is intolerable, public shaming and shunning of those who take part in it seems just. Never before in American politics has there been so plausible a reason for exclusion from the common meal as the act of working for Donald Trump.

And what about civility? Well, fundamental to, and governing the practice of, civility is the principle of reciprocity: your place at my table implies my place at yours. Conservatives and liberals, right-wingers and left-wingers, Jews and Muslims and Christians and Socialists and round- and flat-Earthers—all should have a place at any table and be welcome to sit where they like. On the other hand, someone who has decided to make it her public role to extend, with a blizzard of falsehoods, the words of a pathological liar, and to support, with pretended piety, the acts of a public person of unparalleled personal cruelty—well, that person has asked us in advance to exclude her from our common meal. You cannot spit in the plates and then demand your dinner. The best way to receive civility at night is to not assault it all day long. It’s the simple wisdom of the table.

My view shifted. I have not lost my ideal that everyone has worth; however, in this case, I came to see how someone’s active participation in a corrupt administration that purposely causes real harm to real people is sufficient grounds to allow a restaurant owner to not serve them and ask them to leave. The real incivility comes from supporting actions that cause great harm to others. Public officials who support heinous actions must face consequences.

Charles P. Pierce in esquire.com summed it up nicely:

This debate is stupid. It’s also dangerously beside the point. SarahHuck is the lying mouthpiece of a lying regime that is one step away from simply hauling people off in trucks. That she was politely told to take her business elsewhere is a small step towards assigning public responsibility to public officials that enable a perilous brand of politics. There are bigger steps to be taken, but everyone in official Washington is too damn timid to do what really needs to be done about this band of pirates.

The Red Hen incident is a distraction from the real work toward change that remains to be done.

Memorial Day Reflection

Mon, 28 May 2018 16:42:29 GMT

I experience mixed emotions on Memorial Day. Although I am morally opposed to violence and war, it does not trouble me to respect and honor those who gave their lives for what they deemed to be a worthy cause. Death is an inescapable finality. When it comes too soon it is tragic.

I find it difficult to extend respect and honor to the American Military as an institution. More and more, it seems that American military force is used to replace honest diplomacy, further America’s geo-political interests, and serve corporate interests. Human rights, if they enter the picture at all, serve as a pretext for economic and political interests. The hypocrisy shown in where and when American military force is used is staggering.

I realize that the world today is far from renouncing the use of violence as a legitimate means of settling differences. I also realize that while I decry America’s use of violence abroad, I benefit greatly from it. I enjoy America’s high standard of living that consumes resources at a greater level than most of the other inhabitants of our planet. American economic and military might preserves my lifestyle.

On Memorial Day, I willingly partake in sad reflection on the loss of life and devastation of war. I will try to avoid the military triumphalism that I often see displayed. Memorial Day is a time to mourn.

I will silence these conflicting thoughts that bounce around in my head. Instead, I will focus solemnly on those who died in the service of their country – for that is one of the tragedies of war. Those who died deserve to be remembered.

I will contemplate this poem by Thomas Hardy about a death in the Boer War far, a death so far from home.

Drummer Hodge

Thomas Hardy, 1840 - 1928

They throw in Drummer Hodge, to rest
     Uncoffined—just as found:
His landmark is a kopje-crest
     That breaks the veldt around;
And foreign constellations west
     Each night above his mound.

Young Hodge the Drummer never knew—
     Fresh from his Wessex home—
The meaning of the broad Karoo,
     The Bush, the dusty loam,
And why uprose to nightly view
     Strange stars amid the gloam.

III

Yet portion of that unknown plain
     Will Hodge for ever be;
His homely Northern breast and brain
     Grow up a Southern tree,
And strange-eyed constellations reign
     His stars eternally.

A Message from Randy Best

Fri, 25 May 2018 00:00:38 GMT

Dear NoVES Members –

I struggle at times to hold the worth of others at the forefront of my consciousness. To recognize human worth in times of conflict and disagreement. To fully recognize our common humanity and our common struggle to do what each of us believes is right.

Acting ethically would be easy if there was never any disagreement or conflict.

Resolving disagreement is an opportunity to take my ethics beyond the theoretical and put it into practice.

I will do my best to rise to this opportunity, respectfully, creatively, with concern for others.

Conflict leaves disappointment and hurt feelings in its wake.

After conflict, healing and the repair of relationships are necessary.

How we act in the wake of conflict, how we reach across divisions to begin healing are the true indicators of ethical inclusion.

Everyone acted for what they believed to be the best interests of NoVES at the recent members meeting.

As the NoVES community emerges from conflict, the challenge is to re-affirm commitment to our community and strengthen connections with others. To recognize the integrity and worth of all of our members.

There is no right side or wrong side.

In some cases, there is deep hurt that needs healing.

There is an opportunity to truly listen to others, to move forward with greater understanding.

Felix Adler, the founder of Ethical Culture wrote:

Life is worth living if I live to support the worth in others. And if I find and enlarge the worth in myself. We add to our moral lives in two ways: by living rightly according to the light we have. Secondly by constantly seeking for new light. In the moral world if we do not find new understandings, and if we do not advance and grow, then instead we shrink.

It is my hope that as NoVES moves beyond conflict, I am able to support the worth of others, to move forward with deeper understanding and renewed commitment to the NoVES community.

Yours in Ethical Struggle,

Randy Best
NoVES Leader

Saturday at the Red/Blue Divide

Sun, 20 May 2018 00:47:44 GMT

I spent today observing a Red/Blue workshop conducted by Better Angels (https://www.better-angels.org/). This organization’s slogan is “Let’s Depolarize America”, and they aim to do just that.

I observed four self-identified conservatives (Reds) and five self-identified liberals (Blues). Over the course of a day, this group engaged in facilitated exercises to identify stereotypes, find common values, and ask questions of each other.

I was privileged to spend a day observing how the power of listening to each other opens us up to recognizing an other’s inherent humanity. This realization leads to greater understanding and respect for people holding some views that are very different from my own.

The purpose was not to change anyone’s mind. The Better Angels’ goal to dial down the polarization was achieved in this small group today. This organization is in the process of growing so that more and more people can have this experience. What a worthy enterprise!

Leader's Column by Randy Best: An Overview of Ethical Humanism History and Philosophy

Sun, 13 May 2018 23:57:16 GMT

It was my pleasure to present this two-hour overview on May 4 th . Sixteen people attended the class held at the Vienna Community Center, a convenient and well set up venue for classes or discussions that will be used for future events. I presented a brief bio of Felix Adler, the founder of Ethical Culture, along with his philosophical ideas of non-theism, community engagement, and promoting social justice. Other influences on Ethical Culture such as pragmatism and humanism were also introduced. It was a lively presentation with lots of excellent questions and discussion. Future classes will delve more deeply into these topics.

Leader's Column by Randy Best: TOWARDS UTOPIA

Mon, 15 Jan 2018 20:25:25 GMT

A member requested that I provide an excerpt from my recent talk, “Towards Utopia”. I chose to include the section talking about Ethical Culture History and Felix Adler’s ideas, along with some of my own. You can hear my complete talk at: https://soundcloud.com/novesaudio/randy-best-towards-utopia1232017

Towards Utopia (excerpt) Oscar Wilde wrote: "A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not even worth glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which Humanity is always landing. And when Humanity lands there, it looks out, and, seeing a better country, sets sail. Progress is the realization of Utopias." I need a Utopian vision that reflects my Humanist Values, my Humanist Ideals. Felix Adler, who founded Ethical Humanism as Ethical Culture in 1876, had a philosophy based on Ideals. He envisioned a Utopia where every person was endowed with intrinsic worth and, therefore, needed to be treated with dignity and respect. People should be supported by society so that they are able to achieve their full potential and make their contribution to making the world a better place. Attributing intrinsic worth to people leads to obligations with respect to that worth. These obligations are the basis for ethics and moral action. Adler’s Ethical Humanist Ideals included:

Every person has inherent worth; each person is unique.
It is our responsibility to improve the quality of life for ourselves and others.
Ethics are derived from human experience.
Life is sacred, interrelated and interdependent. To realize the worth of people, Felix Adler set out to improve conditions for human flourishing.

To achieve this, Adler founded the Ethical Societies as a place for people committed to improving the world, increasing their understanding of themselves, and deepening their relationships with others. Adler, and the members of the Ethical Societies, also founded organizations that would act to improve the world. These organizations addressed the issues of their day including:

The Hudson Guild and Madison Settlement Houses in New York City
The Child Study Association that advocated restrictions on Child Labor
The Model Tenement Association to improve housing conditions
The Visiting Nurses Association to provide access to health care; and
The Ethical Culture Schools Ethical Humanists were also instrumental in founding The American Civil Liberties Union and The NAACP.

History is inspirational, but what does my Ethical Humanist Philosophy lead me to today? How can I act to promote my Ethical Humanist Ideals? What is my version of an Ethical Humanist Utopian Vision? Bertrand Russell wrote: "It is not a finished Utopia that we ought to desire, but a world where imagination and hope are alive and active." I struggle to find a Utopian Vision of hope in a political environment dominated by corporate interests and tax relief for the wealthy. I realize that if I want politics to change, I must work to change politics. I must continue to oppose policies that discriminate and deny opportunity to others. My Ethical Humanist Utopian Vision is founded on reason, evidence, facts, and most importantly, promoting the human worth and dignity of everyone. Like Utopias of the past, in my Utopian vision people are free from want, with abundant food, good health, safe in their lives, possessions, and liberty. In my Utopian vision, the earth must also be cared for so that human life may continue to flourish. My vision of Human Dignity recognizes the worth of others by:

Recognizing the rights of refugees and immigrants to be part of our nation – because people cannot be illegal.

Working to overcome Systemic Racism because Black Lives Matter too.
Recognizing and dismantling White Privilege, Patriarchy, and Male Privilege.
Creating a world free of sexual harassment where offenders face consequences for their actions.
Promoting a Universal Basic Income so that everyone is free from deprivation
Investing in people by providing Free Education and Health care for all.
Changing America’s Criminal Justice system to promoting community service and education as alternatives to incarceration.
Working toward Peaceful resolutions to conflict and an end to War.

My Utopian Vision raises all of us up for a more egalitarian future that everyone can be part of realizing. Eduardo Galeano wrote: "Utopia is on the horizon. I move two steps closer; it moves two steps further away. I walk another ten steps and the horizon runs ten steps further away. As much as I walk, I’ll never reach it. So, what is the point of Utopia? The point is this: to keep walking." My Utopian vision is evolving, changing as I continue to learn and grow. But it remains focused, directed by my Humanist Values and belief that we are all worthy, we are all deserving, and we have the potential to co-create the good and work toward making the world a better place- for everyone.