June is a month with many celebrations and culminations. To-gether we will see seven of our teens graduate in a Coming of Age ceremony on June 8th. We are so excited to have taken our Coming of Age program to a new level with Nirvani Bisses-sar as the new teacher for our teens. By the time this newsletter hits the press their celebration will be ours to remember. These celebrations have become such a cornerstone of our community, when we honor our youth into their early adulthood and pay homage to their declarations of values and ethics. Congratu-lations Jamie, Irene, Lucas, Layla, Aria, Maia, and Jolene! In May the Board of Trustees, had a day-long retreat as part of our approach to stra-tegic planning. This gave the board time to learn and to think with a big picture view, allowing us to step out of the day-to-day concerns of managing BSEC. Overall, we are seeing healthy development. We have six new members this season. Our committees are each taking on programs and activities that are beginning to show signs of growth. (Other articles in this newsletter tell those stories more.) We are trying hard to figure out exactly how we can make our building more accessible. We welcomed back Lisel Burns as a member, who was our Clergy Leader for many years and will continue to always be our Leader Emerita. We have a Task Force dedi-cated to the New Leader Search. Over the coming year we can trust their search to also contribute to our own self-awareness as a community. As part of a concerted effort to grow our congregation and thereby, our efficacy, we have decided to place emphasis on membership and communications. This summer, the board will create a Task Force to help each committee integrate activities and programming towards these ends, both within the Society and with the broader world. If you have interest in this work, please speak to me or Jone. We anticipate that there will be at least one representative from each committee on this task force, as well as a few members-at-large. Likewise, we have plans for a group to begin to meet to ex-plore issues of race and diversity for our congregation and to offer strategies and ac-tivities that will help the continuation of developing our diverse community. We have donated our space to FUREE (Families United for Racial and Economic Equality) and the Brooklyn Food Coalition for events of their own as ways to build alliances through the gift of the beautiful space that we have to share. June 22nd will be our Member Meeting. We will have an abbreviated Platform that day, a healthy lunch, and a meeting planned for 12:30-2:30. There are three positions open on the Board and so far we only have two people running for them; me (Rebecca Lurie), and Laura Duffy, who has years of membership activity behind her and has not yet served on the board. If you have interest in growing your leadership skills and contributing your time to our Board of Trustees, please let us know. There is also a position on the Sunday Committee for a member-at-large. If planning for and organizing platforms is something that interests you, again, let us know.

-Rebecca Lurie

BROOKLYN SOCIETY FOR ETHICAL CULTURE

Ethically Speaking

53 Prospect Park West

at 2nd Street in Park Slope

www.bsec.org

bsecdirector@yahoo.com

718.768.2972

June 2014

“Guiding Free Thinkers Since 1907”

A LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

The Brooklyn Society

for Ethical Culture

(BSEC)

Jone Johnson Lewis

Interim Clergy Leader

jone.bsec@gmail.com

Damal Edmond

Administrative Director

bsecdirector@yahoo.com

Board of Trustees

President: Rebecca Lurie

Vice President: Janice Novet

Treasurer: Tom Castelnuovo

Pledge Secretary: Kim Brandon

Trustees:

Donna Minkowitz

Warren Miner

_____________________

The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture

A humanistic, religious and e d u c a t i o n a l f e l l o w s h i p promoting knowledge, love and practice of ethics-centered living. As a diverse and welcoming community, we assist each other in developing ethical ideals, exploring choices, navigating our life journeys, and working to realize a more just and compassionate world. BSEC belongs to a federation of Ethical Culture & Ethical Humanist Societies and/or Fellowships in the U.S. known as the American Ethical Union.

www.aeu.org

Ethically Speaking, June 2014, page 2

ETHICS FOR CHILDREN: It’s Official! It’s official: we are now Ethics for Children. With our new name we have welcomed new friends and have begun reaching out to the community with a new brochure, an updated webpage and a presence at local street fairs.

And the kids have been busy! Themes from this season include: stories, empathy, environmental awareness, and taking action for social justice. A few highlights: Visits from the Five Boro Story Project who followed up their intergen-erational event with a special workshop just for kids where we shared stories about our neighborhoods. An investigation of bullying from a variety of angles. This included workshops with local storyteller and teacher Robin Bady who helped us express feelings and thoughts on what it means to bully, why people bully

and how to handle a bully. Jone also taught a class on how parts of our brains (like the amygdala) play an important role in how we deal with fear, anger and other emotions around bullying. A trip to Prospect Park Residences where we did a question/answer exchange with five seniors. The kids got to hear some incredible stories from our oldest living generations. Topics ranged from technology to the Civil Rights Movement. A social justice action project to help Anne-Marie and the other folks we met at Pros-pect Park Residences. This was led by Nirvani Bissessar and the Coming of Age teens. Each teen mentored two younger kids in how to write letters to politicians, make protest signs, and draft petitions to speak out against the residence’s unjust evictions. They gath-ered nearly 400 signatures with their own hand-made petitions! The Coming of Age teens also led a "speed deed" table at NYSEC to document the feminist voice. They worked with an organization called Breaking Walls to fight stereo-types of youth in Brooklyn, using their voice through poetry and film documentary. And they participated in the annual AIDS Walk. The teens are currently learning and question-ing what it means to be a member of Ethical Culture.

Meanwhile, the 3-7 year-olds learned and played with Simba: ex-ploring their freedom to think for themselves, their responsibility to treat others fairly and kindly and their ability to learn from everyone through group circles, stories, games, songs and art-projects. All in all, it’s been an inspiring and energizing few months. I’m so proud of these kids! -Lea Bender, Director

Congrats Coming of Age Grads 2014!

James Brennan

Irene Duffy

Layla Devlin

Aria Devlin

Lucas Kohn

Maia Engstrom

Jolene Lower

Friends, Allies, Competition, Heretics?

IN THE INTERIM - A Note from Jone-

“All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Summer Sunday Programming: Friends, Neighbors and Allies of Ethical Societies

June 29: Colloquy. TBA July 13: Other American Humanisms. Interim Clergy Leader Jone Johnson Lewis will explore the extent to which we consider our-selves, in Ethical Culture, humanists, and how we are like and different from other American humanist groups. July 20: Our Close Neighbors. Jone Johnson Lewis will look at liberal Christianity, some forms of Judaism and Unitarian Universal-ism as neighbors on the religious spectrum. August 10: International Humanism -Paulo Ribiero August 17th: Ethical Culture at the United Nations –Martha Gallahue August 23: Colloquy. Rebecca Lurie will facilitate a colloquy on endings as also the start of new beginnings...together we will explore this for all the joy, sadness and living in between.

Ethically Speaking, June 2014, page 3

Bayard Rustin wrote an essay in the 1960s about the ten-dency, in religion and politics, to make our closest neighbors our enemies. Thus, in online postings, I some-times see the immense vitriol between atheists and agnos-tics – pretty close neighbors, you’d think, with more in com-mon than different. America is a very sectarian culture – the tendency is that if one disagrees a little bit, one forms a new sect. There’s an old religious joke that takes various forms. Here’s one version: A person was walking over a bridge one day, and saw someone standing at the edge of the bridge, looking ready to jump. The first person ran over to the second: “No, don’t jump!” “Why not,” said the second, “I have nothing to live for.” (1) “Are you religious?” (2) “Yes.” (1) “I am, too. Are you Jewish or Christian?” (2) “Christian.” (1) “Are you Catholic or Protestant?” (2) “Protestant.” (1) “Are you Lutheran or Baptist?” (2) “Baptist.” (1) “Are you Northern Baptist or Southern Bap-tist?” (2) “Northern.” (1) “Are you Northern Baptist Church of God or Northern Baptist Church of the Lord?” (2) “Northern Baptist Church of God.” (1) “Are you Northern Baptist Church of God Original or Northern Baptist Church of God Reformed?” (2) “Northern Baptist Church of God Reformed.” (1) “Northern Baptist Church of God Reforma-tion of 1897 or Northern Baptist Church of God Reformed of 1917?” (2) “Northern Baptist Church of God Reformed of 1917.” (1) “Die, heretic, die!” and pushed the other person off the bridge. An old political ballad started, “Bill Bailey belonged to every radical party / That ever came to be / Till he finally decided to start his own party / So he wouldn’t disagree….” And of course, there’s the commercial concept of the “market niche” – find a unique place in the “marketplace of

Americans have tended to be very sectarian. A small dif-ference, and we split off. And sometimes, as Bayard Rustin warned, we put our energy into arguing about those small differences. At the same time, it’s true that in differ-ences, we often see ourselves more clearly. Exploring similarities and differences – and seeing them more as a continuum, rather than either/or, heresy or orthodoxy – can help us see ourselves. This summer, we’ll have a series of six programs, begin-ning and ending with colloquies. In between, we’ve sched-uled four programs that will be somewhere between a plat-form talk and a workshop – less structured than the plat-form meetings September through mid-June – on the topic of “Friends, Neighbors and Allies of Ethical Societies.” I’ll be there leading the first two. On July 13, “Other American Humanisms” will explore the extent to which we consider ourselves, in Ethical Culture, humanists, and how we are like and different from other American humanist groups. On July 20, “Our Close Neighbors” will look at liberal Chris-tianity, some forms of Judaism and Unitarian Universalism as neighbors on the religious spectrum. In August, on the 10th and 17th, we’ll have guests helping us explore interna-tional humanisms and other religious and nonreligious groups we’re associated with or otherwise close to. I hope we do this in the spirit of trying to transcend that American sectarianism – seeing these close neighbors as the allies and friends that they can be, even while compar-ing and contrasting ourselves to them can help us see some of the finer distinctions of why our group has a unique place and purpose in the world.

-Jone Johnson Lewis

~BUILDING & GROUNDS~ Making Our Building a Welcoming

Accessible Space The Building and Grounds Committee has been meeting over the last year to fully assess how to make our building accessi-ble without stairs. We strongly feel the need for an accessible space that would clearly signal our intention to welcome all. It is an important aspect of living our values and our ethics. Yet our status as a historic and landmark building makes significant changes all the more challenging. With the help of our Administrative Director, Damal, we sought bids from several architectural firms asking them to help us create a design. We learned that there are even more ques-tions to ask and answer before we can start designing. To pro-vide access just to our first floor there are three levels to con-sider: the yard, sunroom and meeting room. Then there is pro-viding access with dignity as well as beauty. Ramp or lift? How to provide bathroom access? The bids we received were sim-ple enough with no clear design or price until we contract for the services. For the most part, the cost of the architectural work is built in as a percentage of the construction costs and so won’t be clear until we have the full bid. In addition, any con-struction will cut into usage of our space for a period of time so will curtail our rental revenue. In the meantime, the committee has grown concerned over the condition of the Society’s mounting wall along 2nd Street; it was damaged over the years by the root pressure from nearby trees before we removed them. The Committee now proposes that we contract with one of the firms for a feasibility study that would help us design, prioritize and price out our options. This will be a line item in our pro-posed budget at the annual meeting on Sunday, June 22. If the members agree, the initial cost to the Society will be about $15,000 for the study. For this sum, the architect will in-form us on the status of the 2nd St. retaining wall plus propose solutions for handicap accessibility and help us look at the im-pact of construction on our space use. The B&G Committee urges members to really think about this issue, understanding that the costs and implications are high and the details are sometimes complex. The committee also recommends that the Society establish a capital fund and a fundraising strategy to match. We acknowl-edge that projects of this scope can easily eat away at our en-dowment and so we need a broad commitment to the enter-prise. Members are free to review the bids and reports from the archi-tects at any time, and to join the committee if you wish for more input. At the member meeting we are proposing the study and a fundraising effort so we can see this project through.

Rebecca Lurie and Warren Miner

HAIKUS During our April Platform to honor National Po-etry Month, we created our version of Haiku po-ems as a gathering exercise. We gave everyone less than five minutes to practice this Japanese art form. Here are some of our poems – Kim Brandon

I love you more than tacos, chocolate, even more than each cool inhale - Gabriella Belfiglio Bricks studs sheet-rock paint

now cats sun on windowsills

we have made a home

- Marg Suarez Love transforms strangely Mountains cannot bar my love Again I see your eyes - Lujira Cooper

Sunny and cool days Are among my favorite for walks and wonder - Nkosi

Apples, crust roses

an early dinner with friends

I'm baking a pie

- Lisa Servon

Love 5-7-5 Acceptance goes far to open my heart to you. I rest in your love. - Sarah Zahnstecher

Virginia Haiku

riding on her back road

her lily of a valley

Appalachian Sun

- Robert Gibbons

Maybe God is he? Santa Claus or that guy see

Who you call daddy - Carolyn Meiselbach

Last night she came back

Brooklyn BSEC CBG

brought Tasha to me

- Lisel Burns

Down in the valley a big bee kissed a flower you came and kissed more -Ellen Raider

Spring season renewal

love blossoms like the flowers

my heart renews for you.

- Denise M. Felix

Hats

Got up this morning

Put on my Zora Neale hat

and wrote this poem

-Kim Brandon

Ethically Speaking, June 2014, page 4

Ethically Speaking, June 2014, page 5

ETHICAL ACTION What do we owe the earth?

On June 22, the Society gets a chance to vote on creating a socially responsible investing policy for our $900,000 in-vestment fund that would guide us in the process of divesting from 200 fossil fuel stocks and also from other stocks that may not fit our values, such as military contractors.

At the American Ethical Union’s May meeting, the gathered societies voted for the AEU to both divest of fossil fuel stocks and reinvest them in sustainable energy. Moreover, the resolution called on its member societies – and all Ethical Culturalists -- to do the same. The AEU’s financial advisor said such a move would not harm its investments. Indeed, another congregation we interviewed who enacted socially responsible investment policies said it has not suffered a fi-nancial loss.

But the Ethical Action Committee’s resolution, endorsed by the board, calls on the society to do this because it is the right thing to do, because of the threat to life on our planet and because such action is the “higher ground” we are en-joined to seek. We have a moral responsibility to the Earth, to all beings, and to future generations to do everything in our power to bring about a swift tran-sition from fossil fuels to a sustainable energy economy to avoid catastrophic climate change. However, in a compromise, our resolution does not call for reinvestment of the divested funds into sustainable energy.

Our resolution also creates a task force that will develop a socially responsi-ble investment policy like those of most other congregations. It would include the principles of: Avoidance: developing a No-Buy list of prohibited stocks; Affirmative investments that promote economic justice, for instance by in-vesting in a loan fund serving low-income communities; Advocacy: continue investing in “sin” stocks that violate our values only if we commit to active advocacy in shareholder campaigns through such organiza-tions as the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility. Fiscal responsibility: assess the impact, if any, of this policy on the BSEC endowment. -Abby Scher

ETHICAL LIVING Brooklyn Ethical Has a Gift Circle! According to Sacred Economics author Charles Eisenstein, “Community is woven from gifts,” writes Charles Eisenstein in Sacred Economics. Since January, the Brooklyn Gift Circle – inspired by Eisenstein’s writing and sponsored by BSEC’s Ethi-cal Living Committee – has been convening once per month, in the Library, to weave community. Each meeting follows a simple format: First, we each state one or two needs (for work, objects, skills, services, space, time, connections, and so on). Second, we each offer one or two gifts (gifts, like needs, may take many forms). Third, we ex-press gratitude, in particular for gifts received through the Circle (bearing witness to generosity helps it grow). We leave time at the end for givers and receivers to con-nect and arrange for gift delivery. This isn’t barter, so we aren’t making exchanges. Rather, we’re giving freely, in hopes of creating a flow. How well has the Circle been working? Here’s a sample of gifts delivered so far: basil plants, tool use, a phone cord, counseling, a handpainted poster, healing bodywork, gardening and career advice, help avoiding eviction, help with moving and household chores, a job as an arborist. Some gifts have reached beyond the Circle to friends, families, and organizations we care about. Inspired by the Circle, one member helped a friend secure an apartment; two others wel-comed newcomers to their block with a note of introduction and homebrew. When ten to twenty of us come together for any given Circle, we bring not only our own needs and resources, but those of everyone we’re connected to. Access to each other’s networks is itself a gift. When we share our wants and needs and the stories behind them, when we offer our gifts, we build both knowledge and trust. We learn to rely on each other. We add fresh strands to the web of relationship upon which all our lives depend. Please join us for the last Circle of our inaugural series (Thursday, June 26, 7-9 P.M.). All are welcome. Watch the Com-munity Builder for news of future Circles. – Helen Zusman

Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture 53 Prospect Park West Brooklyn, NY 11215-2629

“Guiding Free Thinkers Since 1907”

On a Sad Note from JONE

��������������������������

In the 1990s, a dear friend of mine, a young man named Mac Morgan,

then about 30 years old, moved to Brooklyn. I recommended he try out the Ethical Society. He did. He began attending, was part of a newcom-

ers' circle led by then-Leader Lois Kellerman, and he enjoyed his time at the Society. He

left not long after, moving to England to build a committed relationship there. Sadly, his life ended last week in a hospital in the UK.

If any of you who remember him want to talk, please email me at jone.bsec@gmail.com or make an appointment.

ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING

JUNE 22nd @ 12:30pm

SAVE THE DATE! Thursday, July 10, 6:30pm Garden Party Fundraiser!

The Brooklyn Society for Ethical

Culture 53 Prospect Park West

Help the Eddie Ellis Academy for Human Justice get off the drawing boards and into the hearts of young people affected by criminal punishment.