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Ethical Culture meets with White House staff

Two Adult Ed Seminars in April:

Advance Funeral Planning

Major religions today

Ethical Culture meets with White House staff

Five Ethical Culture representatives and nine other organizations met with White House staff on Friday (2/26/2010) to discuss issues of importance to America's nontheistic community. On the agenda were protecting children from the neglect and abuse of medical faith-healing; ending military proselytizing; and fixing faith-based initiatives. The ten organizations comprise the Secular Coalition for America (SCA), the only lobbying group exclusively representing nontheists. Ethical Culture's national organization, the American Ethical Union (AEU), is an SCA member organization. Friday's briefing is thought to be the first such event, and was reported on by Jack Tapper of ABC News.

From left, Frank Brown, Katharine Archibald, Dr. Joseph Chuman

Representing Ethical Culture were Katharine Archibald (AEU Executive Director), Frank I. Brown, Esq. (ECS/Bergen member), Dr. Joseph Chuman (Leader ECS/Bergen & NYSEC), Arnold Fishman (AEU and SCA board member) and Oliver Pergams (EHS/Chicago member). Pictured here from left to right are Brown, Archibald and Chuman:

The World Food Crisis

The tsunami-like shock of soaring world food prices following the increase in the demand for oil is a dramatic illustration of the interconnectedness of the world. An additional 100 million people of already vulnerable populations have been plunged into poverty and hunger. Even in affluent U.S.A. the poorest fifth of the population spends about 15% of the family budget on food. A Nigerian family spends 73%. Not much left! Food riots have broken out in Haiti, Egypt, Somalia, and other poor countries.

World Health and the UN

In our increasingly interconnected world, global health is facing a further challenge—new diseases are emerging at the rate of one per year. Since 1967 at least 39 new pathogens have been identified, including HIV, Ebola fever, Marburg fever, and SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome). Other century-old threats such as pandemic influenza, malaria, TB, continue to pose a threat through a combination of factors such as mutation, rising resistance to antimicrobial medicines, and weak health care systems.

Human Rights and the UN

Sixty years ago, in 1948, the General Assembly of the UN adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. On Dec 10, that declaration was reaffirmed as Human Rights Day. This extraordinary document was a response to the horrors of World War 2. It became the first global statement that all human beings have equality and dignity. This document has been translated in more than 360 languages, has inspired the constitutions of many newly formed independent states, has seeded many human rights treaties and instruments, and has inspired the founding of many human rights organizations such as Amnesty International. The Declaration is both a moral guidepost and a practical yardstick to deal with complex actions of governments.

The Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County

Ethical Culture meets with White House staff

Two Adult Ed Seminars in April:

Advance Funeral Planning

Major religions today

Ethical Culture meets with White House staff

The World Food Crisis

World Health and the UN

Human Rights and the UN

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