Erik Younge and Sylvia Metzler, ERTF Co-Chairs Philadelphia Ethical Society In his 2020 TED Talk, “Why We Must Confront the Painful Parts of U.S. History,” Hasan Kwame Jeffries urges us to examine the historical context of present injustice. A discussion will follow screening of the video.   This will be a Zoom-only platform. You can [...]

Christopher Harris, Director, School Library System Genessee Valley BOCES This is an All-Society Platform. Check the Weekly Bulletin for the zoom link.  

Kimiko Doherty, Member Philadelphia Ethical Society Join Kimiko for a platform loosely based on Ross Gay's The Book of Delights.  Special guest PES members will share stories of what brings them delight and joy in their lives.  Afterwards, others are welcome to share a short anecdote of what brings them delight while living life with [...]

Kate Esposito, Member Philadelphia Ethical Society An opportunity to channel your pet, learn improvisational skills, and create connections.  This should be fun!

Hugh Taft-Morales, Leader Philadelphia Ethical Society The national Ethical Culture community and the United States, as a whole, face challenges about where to go from here. In order to bring out our best, we must overcome limited resources, mistrust, trauma, and burnout. People of goodwill are applying their time, energy, and skills to make that [...]

Christian Hayden, Ethical Culture Leader What might the Philadelphia Ethical Society and the Ethical Culture movement—in terms of service, leadership, and community—look like in the future? Christian will draw from Octavia Butler's novel Parable of the Sower and his own experience of—and subsequent changes to—humanist service in Ghana to lead this exercise in collective speculation. [...]

Hugh Taft-Morales, Leader Philadelphia Ethical Society For more than a decade, Hugh has served on the core team of Peace Day Philly. This small, dedicated organization stresses the connection between inner and outer peace: a relationship also expressed in the philosophy of Stoicism. In this talk, Hugh will describe how Stoicism helps us nurture a [...]

Hugh Taft-Morales, Leader Philadelphia Ethical Society Voting is the most fundamental power in any real democracy. Yet Americans have been killed for using the vote to challenge systemic racism. Octavius Catto in 1871. Herbert Lee in 1961. Vernon Dahmer in 1966. To honor those slain activists, we must overcome voter suppression and apathy, demand greater [...]

Sarah Bush, Associate Professor of Political Science University of Pennsylvania Foreign influence on elections is widespread. Drawing on evidence from surveys of Americans and others over the past decade, Bush will explain how and why such outside interventions affect local trust. Bush’s research focuses on ways in which international actors try to aid democracy, promote [...]

Hugh Taft-Morales, Leader Philadelphia Ethical Society Almost a third of Americans admit to being at least somewhat superstitious. People knock on wood, throw salt over their shoulders, and avoid walking under ladders. Should we challenge such remnants of magical thinking, as Freethought Society founder Margaret Downey does at her Friday the 13th parties? Do superstitions [...]