Ethical Culture affirms the dignity and worth of every human individual, regardless of religious creed, ethnic origin, race, gender, age, or sexual orientation. For detailed information, as well as history, please visit the American Ethical Union site: AEU Who We Are: Ethical Humanism. But here’s a summary.
- We are:
- Part of a religious movement started with the New York Society for Ethical Culture, founded by Felix Adler in 1876. Our own Society was started in the 1950’s;
- A community of members and friends from a wide range of backgrounds, beliefs and traditions, uniting on the common ground of religious humanism, which includes:
- affirmation of the dignity and worth of every individual,
- respect and appreciation for both individual difference and cultural diversity,
- commitment to the democratic way of life,
- appreciation of the naturalistic orientation of the scientific method,
- reliance on human compassion and intelligence as the best means for solving human problems and understanding our world,
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- recognition that every person has the moral potential to help make the world a better place in which to live.
- We believe:
- That all human beings have the freedom and responsibility to shape meaningful lives; we believe that all human beings have the opportunity and the obligation to act so as to bring out the best in others, and in so acting to discover they also bring out the best in themselves. We believe that each person has an inexhaustible potential for imaginative and constructive response to the problems and mysteries of existence;
- We wish:
- Not to indoctrinate, but to study, learn and act. We speak not of worship, but of reverence both for the finest expressions of human dignity, spirit, and creativity, and for the nurturing and inspiring natural world. We seek to enjoy life’s blessings, and to increase the possibility for all humanity to share in those blessings.