We have learned that community works better when we have some agreements about how we communicate. We believe these grow from our basic Ethical Culture values and guiding principles.
If you have questions about these, contact our Board President or Clergy Leader.
Cultivating ethical relationships is at the core of Ethical Culture. The practices articulated below can bolster our efforts to live and act in harmony with our beliefs. They can help us enjoy caring and compassionate interactions with one another, individually and as a community.
Members and staff members of the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture choose:
- to ascribe good intentions to others regardless of their perspective;
- to listen with respect and refrain from engaging in blaming language;
- to speak for myself and from my own experience;
- to hold to any meeting agreements that the group makes;
- to use descriptive, not judgmental or inflammatory language;
- to place principles before personalities; to criticize issues but not people;
- to refrain from using the Internet or e-mail to address interpersonal or intergroup conflicts and instead to address concerns in face-to-face;
- to handle differences collaboratively and, if necessary, to seek mediation and/or counseling; and
- to respect confidentiality when it is requested and agreed upon.
