Speaker and Panel: Humanism in Action

Humanism in Action: Perspectives on Humanism, Ethical Culture, and Social Action.

Join the Tufts Experimental College, Humanist Chaplaincy at Tufts, Tufts Freethought Society, and Boston Area Coalition of Reason in welcoming a keynote speaker and panel of Humanist leaders to discuss Humanism in action in today’s America!

Hugh Taft-Morales, a Humanist minister with the Ethical Societies in Baltimore and Philadelphia, challenges students to understand humanism, from its roots in Greek culture through the Renaissance up to contemporary versions. In particular, he explains how Ethical Humanism, a small but historic congregational form of non-theism, can nurture rational and compassionate ways of responsible living. Rather than arguing about “higher beings,” it encourages better ways of being. Dedicated to “deed before creed,” Taft-Morales offers one way out of unproductive culture wars toward a more cooperative and ethical culture.

What does it mean to be a Humanist, and to do chaplaincy work as a Humanist, in America today, and how do we put our Humanist values in action? Come for a presentation by Tafts-Morales on his work organizing Ethical Culture communities in Philadelphia and a panel discussion facilitated by Tufts’ own Humanist in Residence Walker Bristol. The panel will also include Vanessa Zoltan, assistant Humanist Chaplain at the Humanist Community at Harvard who has also worked in prison and hospital chaplaincy, and Jason Heap, national coordinator for the United Coalition of Reason and leader in the movement to bring Humanist chaplaincy to the American military. The conversation will explore the challenges faced by those doing Humanist chaplaincy today, and how the movement can be working better to engage in the pro-justice work our values drive us towards.

Learn more  and RSVP via Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/events/645730855553043/.

The event will be open to the public and refreshments will be served between the speaker and the panel. The speaker will commence at 5:30pm on Friday, February 6th, and the panel shortly after at 7pm. Both events will be in the Interfaith Center at 58 Winthrop St.