How are our inner lives, our relationships, and our roles in society affected by our ethical understandings? The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture offers this series of lectures, discussions and workshops as an opportunity to explore the meaning of ethics in our lives.

This series of programs provides an opportunity to explore moral meanings in the chosen topics, and their relationship to our evolving life choices. Find out how ethical inquiry can enhance self-reflection, artistic expression, and the processes leading to conflict resolution and constructive social action. Facilitators will share their own experiences and insights while encouraging others to do the same. Join us for the entire series or one or more workshops.

Life & Ethics Workshops

• Putting Ethics at the Center of Our Lives
• Building "Beloved Communities": a Moral Conversation
• Sexual Exiles: Choosing Between Being True to Self and Country
• From Rock 'n' Roll to Hip-Hop: Moral Voices in Today's Music
• Couples and Ceremonies
• Coming Home
• Spiritual Activism: The Role of Contemplation in a Time of Crisis

Special Class: Conflict as Opportunity

Special Event: Counting on Democracy

Registration & Fees

Putting Ethics at the Center of Our Lives
Wednesday, March 26, 7:30-9:30pm

What does it take to lead a life with meaning and integrity? How do we conduct ourselves within a sense of history, attention to our own possibilities, and commitment to a larger community? This workshop introduces ideas and tools we can use to better integrate the different parts of our lives.

Facilitator: Lisel Burns, BSEC's clergy leader, is an international leadership support trainer, and a board member of the Fifth Avenue Committee, the Dialogue Project, and the National Congress of Neighborhood Women Network.

Building "Beloved Communities": a Moral Conversation
Wednesday, April 9, 7:30-9:30pm

What did Martin Luther King Jr. mean in his term "The Beloved Community"? What does that term mean to you? We'll examine our precon-ceptions and language to explore how together we can create beloved communities that we all need and deserve.

Facilitator: Gwendolyn Braxton, coordinator of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) campaign, Uniting for Racial Justice: Truth, Reparations, Restoration, and Reconciliation, NY Metro Chapter.

Sexual Exiles: Choosing Between Being True to Self and Country
Wednesday, April 16, 7:30-9:30pm

This compelling documentary shares the stories of nine lesbians and gay men from different ethnic backgrounds who left their countries because of their sexual orientation.

Facilitator: Irene Sosa, the filmmaker, an award-winning, New York-based independent film and video creator from Venezuela, now teaching Television Field Production at Brooklyn College.

From Rock 'n' Roll to Hip-Hop: Moral Voices in Today's Music
Wednesday, April 23, 7:30-9:30pm

Music speaks to and for each generation. What is the social significance of today's music messages? Come, and bring someone from another generation! Listen to and discuss music that challenges our "musical comfort zones" and expands our understanding of one another.

Facilitator: Mark Naison, professor of African-American Studies, Fordham University; author of White Boy: A Memoir.

Couples and Ceremonies
Wednesday, April 30, 7:30-9:30pm

Do you have questions or reservations about the value of a community ceremony celebrating your relationship? This workshop explores issues surrounding "going public" with a commitment from the heart and progress/pitfalls in the legal and political situation for same- and different-sex couples.

Copies of Marriage from The Heart (Penguin Putnam), with its Eight Ethical Commitments for Couples, co-authored by Lois Kellerman, BSEC leader Emerita, and Nelly Bly, will be available for sale.

Facilitators: Donna Roberts, Rita Wilson, and Lisel Burns, who work as a team officiating ceremonies on behalf of BSEC.

Coming Home
Saturday, May 17, 2-5pm

People who say no to a life of greed and individualism but stay outside of traditional religious doctrines can collect insights for ethical living from a world of ancient and alternative resources. Learn tools for coming home to our authentic selves as members of communities that elevate the human spirit. Includes insights from 12-Step communities, Christian base communities, Paolo Freire's culture circles, WomanShare time-sharing networks, and other mutual support practices along with an hour of silence and reflection.

Facilitators: Invited guests hosted by Lisel and (sister) Stephanie Burns, a New Hampshire mother, poet, and life coach. Read her thoughts at ECoast Communications.

Spiritual Activism: The Role of Contemplation in a Time of Crisis
Wednesday, May 28, 7:30-9:30pm

Two former contemplatives, currently active members of the BSEC community, share their experiences linking heart values with collaborative action to address world issues.

Facilitators: Martha Gallahue is currently a psychotherapist who represents The National Service Conference of The American Ethical Union at The United Nations and is active at the UN with both the Values and Spiritual Caucuses; Dr. Kurt Johnson is currently a scientist, co-author of Nabokov's Blues, coordinator of a local-to-global spiritual action network and is on the boards of both BSEC and the Brooklyn Community Action Network.

SPECIAL CLASS:
Conflict as Opportunity
Saturday, May 10, 11am-5pm
4 Tuesdays following, 7:30-9:30pm

Last Season's workshop is now a short course. Conflicts handled badly result in anger and frustration; when handled well they can be an opportunity for growth. Learn how to deal productively with conflicts at home, at work, and within your community organizations. This hands-on course will allow us to explore the conflicts we all face, while attending to individual challenges.

Instructor: Ellen Raider, co-founder of and active participant in the International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution at Teachers College, Columbia University.

SPECIAL EVENT:
Counting on Democracy
Saturday, May 17, 6-9:30pm

You are invited to join our community in a garden party supper and a special screening of the landmark documentary on the Florida election that brought George W. Bush into the Presidency.

• Film screening with special guest independent film producer, author, and media Reformer Danny Schechter.
• Informal garden supper with donated food from diverse cultures.
• Silent auction with items and services donated by members of BCAN organizations, including BSEC, with proceeds to benefit the donor organizations and BCAN.

Forget the hanging chads and butterfly ballots. The Presidential election drama of 2000 is still a mystery to most Americans. Counting on Democracy investigates charges of disenfranchisement and 180,000 uncounted Florida votes cast largely by the working poor and people of color, uncovering racial exclusion, voting rights violations and the subverting of a recount in the most contested and controversial election in US history. Running Time: 56:40.

Counting on Democracy was featured at the 2002 Taos Talking Picture Festival, which described it as a: "… jaw-dropping, even terrifying account of just how shallow our nation's commitment to democracy can be."

For more information go to these places:

• Globalvision - Media for the Millenium
• mediachannel.org - the global network for democratic media
• Counting on Democracy on ITVS
• Danny Schechter's weblog

The cost for the evening is $15-50 sliding scale. Contact Diane Kirschner or Lisel Burns for tickets.

Auction donors and donor organizations, please print this form.
Acrobat Reader required.

Registration & Fees:

Life & Ethics Workshops:

• Individual Workshop - $10 ($7 BSEC Members)
• Entire Series - $60 ($50 for BSEC Members)
• Register at least one week early and receive a $1 discount.

Conflict as Opportunity:

• Saturday Workshop - $15
• Course - $ 50-75
• Course Plus Life & Ethics Series - $100-125

To register, indicate the workshops you would like to attend, and send a check or money order payable to "BSEC" to:

Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture
Life & Ethics Series
53 Prospect Park West
Brooklyn, NY 11215

For more information, contact the series coordinator, Erica Hawkins.

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