Rebecca Lurie has been an indispensable member of the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture since 1998. She has been a leader at BSEC throughout her tenure here. She has served as BSEC Board President, managed our Building and Grounds committee and most recently has...
Brooklyn Ethical Blog
Brooklyn Ethical Blog
Rebecca Lurie Receives Anna Garlin Spencer Volunteer Award
Art Outside (with pictures)
This past Sunday, our platform brought together art, music, and activities, for an engaging, diverse, participatory and enlightening event with Ed Woodham about the value of the arts in bringing attention to social issues and seeking social change. Participants of all...
The Women of Color Writers Event (with pictures)
This past Saturday, November 16, 2024, BSEC hosted the Women of Color Writers – Telling Our Story, Preserving Our Legacy event. The space was generous, warm, and friendly and about 30 participants came to take part in Captivating Performances, Writing Workshops, Rich...
Ethics for Children – Service Day in Marine Park (with pictures)
Our Ethics for Children program's monthly service project day happened on a lovely day in Marine Park this month. The kids and adults met the friendly and super helpful rangers who work at the park, learned a lot about the wildlife in the area, and went to work,...
Halloween Party 2024 (with pictures)
Last weekend our Ethics for children program organized a Halloween party for the kids and our members. There were lots of costumes, fun games, delicious treats and much laughter. Thank you all who came! CLICK ON THE PICTURES BELOW FOR SLIDES.
BSEC Celebrates Indigenous People’s Day (with pictures)
On October 13, 2024, our Ethics for Children program and BSEC members, went to Randall's Island to honor and support Indigenous people by joining the celebrations at the PowWow organized by the Redhawk Native American Council. It was a beautiful day of activists,...
All Ages Game Day – April 26, 2024 (with pictures)
Thank you to all who came to our All Ages Game Day on April 26. We were so thankful to have shared a Friday night with all of you, playing games, sharing some pizza and enjoying meeting new friends. Special thanks to all who helped make the day a success. CLICK ON THE...
All Ages Game Day – March 3, 2024 (with pictures)
On March 3, 2024, after a long hiatus, our "All Ages Game Day" returned to BSEC! About 40 people of all ages gathered at our new address at 269 4th Avenue, Brooklyn, for an afternoon of board and card games, lots of snacks, and a great time. Many friends came by,...
Art is the Act of Making (with pictures)
On January 27, 2024, we had our first art show at our new location at 269th 4th Avenue. Almost 2 dozen members brought their artwork, showing that we are surrounded by creativity and talent.There was live music, refreshments, and a lot of laughter and joy. There was...
Bereavement Announcement
Bayo Ayaba Callender passed suddenly on Monday, October 9, 2023, a victim of cancer. Bayo was a person full of life and expression. She had much to give to the world and she gave unstintingly. After having lived in many parts of the world including China and traveling...
The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture has moved from 53 Prospect Park West to 269 4th Avenue, Park Slope.
The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture (http://bsec.org), a Brooklyn humanist congregation since 1907, has moved to our newly renovated and accessible space at 269 4th Avenue, Park Slope. Our Ethical Education, Ethical Living, and Ethical Action programs will...
BSEC Celebrates Halloween 2023
Ethical humanists also like to have fun! Check out some of the pictures from our members celebrating Halloween, and from our Ethics for Children Halloween movie celebration!
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BSEC Media
We are always excited about welcoming speakers to our platforms. They enrich our programs, broaden our understanding of complex topics and bring new perspectives to our discussions. To learn more about our platforms and how to join us, please visit our calendar on our home page or click HERE.
Please note: The opinions of the speakers do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BSEC. BSEC takes no responsibility or liability for errors or omissions in the content, including any copyright infringement.
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Beyond Land Acknowledgements
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Voices From The West Bank: Palestinian House of Friendship
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Felix Adler: Founder of Modern Applied Ethics with Terry Smith
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PROJECT 2025: A Manifesto of Doom
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The Person Before You: Reflections on Worth - with Leader Mike Franch
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The Power of Purpose - with Jone Johnson Lewis
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Joy is an Act of Resistance - with Leader Greg Bonin
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Solidarity Economy: Ethical Path to Social Justice
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The Radical Martin Luther King We Do Not Know
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Public Education Under Attack with Juliana Paré-Blagoev
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Humanist Family Life Ceremonies with Anne Klaeysen
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From Calvin to Mao and Beyond with Edgar Porter
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The Person Before You: Reflections on Worth with Leader Mike Franch
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Building resilient communities in a digital age
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Sources of Renewal: Recharging Our Ethical Batteries with Bart Worden
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Pride! Celebration, Love, Sorrow and Change with Lujira Cooper
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Considering Ethical Humanism & Other Isms with Louise Jett
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60 Years Since the Dawning of the Modern Environmental Movement with Ned Sullivan
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Cultivating Creativity & Ethical Humor with Louise Jett
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Amplifying Voices of Color – Ethical Culture & Black History with Louise Jett
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Reason, Discussion, Compassion – Women in Ethical Humanism with Louise Jett
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Speaking Compassion: An Introduction to Non-Violent Communication
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Simba Yangala from Jungledom
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Home Share — Benefit and Pitfalls
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From Felix Adler to Modern Ethical Humanism Series ( Part 1) with Louise Jett
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#ThisIsFlatbush! Fighting Back Against the Corporate Rebranding of Flatbush, Brooklyn.
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Pat Berkman, Brooklyn Ethical Alumni
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Building the Peace Movement in Brooklyn with Michaela Czerkies
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War from the Other Side
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Salem Witch Trials, Roots for Humanism and Felix Adler with Tyler Lurie-Spicer
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The Accidental Eco-Geek with Jeremy Griffiths
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Move to Amend
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Humanism on Campus with Anne Klaeysen
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VOCAL FOREVER! A permanent home for justice, compassion and love.
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The Right to be Heard & to Vote for Black People in the South in the 1960's.
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Pandemic History, Present and Future with Emily Bass
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Worker-Owned Cooperatives - What's Solidarity Got to Do with It?
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On Freedom and Risk with Edel Rodriguez
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Skatepark Baltimore – Photographing an Inclusive Space
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Striving to Live our Ethical Values with Louise Jett
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Conversations: The Black Radical Tradition with filmmaker Edwian ‘Eze” Stokes.
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Ethics for Children celebrates Mother's Day
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Toni Morrison’s Beloved: An Ethical Logic of Reparations (with Maureen Fadem)
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Racism and the Weight of History with Hugh Taft-Morales
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The Ism of Race (with Ted Talk speaker Dennis Febo)
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Envisioning a Compassionate and Caring City with Council Member Shahana Hanif
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Pathways to a Peace Movement! with “Rusti” Eisenberg
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Abortion Laws in Texas Explained
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The Culture Wars in Texas: Anomaly or Bellwether? with Carolyn Parker
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The Ethics of Indigenous Peoples Day with Evan Pritchard
BSEC Members’ Blog
BSEC Members Blog
DISCLAIMER: The articles are published as submitted by the authors who hold the intellectual rights and take full responsibility for the content. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BSEC. BSEC takes no responsibility or liability for errors or omissions in the content, including any copyright infringement.
A LETTER TO MY PEOPLE
By Lujira Cooper Today, we cry for those who’ve died. We weep for those murdered, and then we fight. For too long we’ve hidden to forget the “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” thrown at us. NO MORE. Neither do we hide under a rock nor in a closet obscuring our...
Bereavement Announcement
Bayo Ayaba Callender passed suddenly on Monday, October 9, 2023, a victim of cancer. Bayo was a person full of life and expression. She had much to give to the world and she gave unstintingly. After having lived in many parts of the world including China and traveling...
Plain Truths – Abortions, Births and Other Matters (Members’ Blog)
“Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth” Henry David Thoreau Americans in a certain respect are under-read and over-exposed thanks, in part to social media, thereby producing a population that has a highly personal and ego-centered view of themselves...
BSEC Members’ Blog
BSEC Members BlogDISCLAIMER: The articles are published as submitted by the authors who hold the intellectual rights and take full responsibility for the content. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BSEC. BSEC takes no responsibility or liability for...
OPINION – Mask-less? Anti-virus shots? Really? ( Members’ Blog)
By Muriel Tillinghast “As anti-vaxx groups nationwide continue to push dangerous theories, some are already reaping the consequences. In their latest deadly advice, the same anti-vaxx groups that pushed at-home COVID-19 remedies including drinking bleach, taking...
My 9/11 by Muriel Tillinghast (Members Blog)
I have written about this elsewhere, but I will commit to writing about it now. I can remember the day it happened It was a Tuesday morning. It was a day to remember not only because of the events that unfolded, but because it was an exceptionally beautiful...
Covid- Virus Update/Uptick (Members Blog)
By Muriel Tillinghast As you can see, most of the Northeast and upper Midwest, as well as much of the West, have only “moderate” or “low” transmission." But it looks to me like except for these areas, the rest of the country is off the chain and we are heading into...
The 1960’S: Decade of Assassinations (Members Blog)
By Lujira Cooper Medgar Evers 1963 June CIVIL RIGHTS John F. Kennedy 1963 November EXTERNAL CONFLICT James Chaney 1964 June FREEDOM RIDER Michael Goodman 1964 June FREEDOM RIDER Led to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 Andrew Schwerner 1964 June FREEDOM RIDER Malcom X 1965...
John Brown, A Catalyst for Change, Harbinger of the American Cataclysm (Members Blog)
Who was this man? History, more often than not, is a narrative agreed upon. By whom, you ask? By those who are read, who chronicle the events, set the tone and determine the mission of those acts which being read in the now will perhaps impact the future. Those...
Pondering War by Muriel Tillinghast (Members Blog)
(Download this document here) I was in my third year at Howard University when I had an unusual opportunity to travel to Southeast Asia. One of my stops was in the Philippines — an archipelagic country, a big word for a nation of islands, in this case about 7600...
Legislation Celebrates Juneteenth (Members Blog)
A Day Which Commemorates Black and African American Freedom and Achievements Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today signed into law legislation (S.8598/A.10628) designating Juneteenth as an official public holiday in New York State. The new law celebrates Juneteenth, a day...
The Sentry (Ruth Bader Ginsburg) (Members Blog)
We are mourning the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg who for 27 years sat on the United States Supreme Court. Her impact in writing, affirming and advocating primarily the rights of women in a fractious and increasingly conservative judicial arena gave her various...
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EFC student fostering a puppy!
Our Ethics for Children student Westley Miller shared some exciting news this summer: His family is fostering a puppy! It has been really special hearing about his experience, so we asked him to share about it for our blog.
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We are currently fostering a puppy. Fostering is kind of like adopting, except it is for a little bit, until someone
else wants it. The puppy’s name is Mae.
She was in the wild for a month while her siblings were in a shelter. There is a rescue in Dutchess County that
takes dogs from high-kill shelters in the south; it rescued Mae and her siblings, and we fostered Mae. All of
them had severe non-contagious mange.
Two days after being rescued from the shelter, one of her siblings died of dehydration and the other was
discovered to be a boy (the bad shelter thought they were all girls): Mae was doing better in the wild than her
siblings in the shelter. Her other sibling took longer to recover in his foster home than Mae did, and he is doing
great now and has been adopted. How did the “shelter” mistake him for a girl?
Mae has almost completely recovered from her mange (so has her brother), and I like having her in the house.
She is very annoying sometimes, but she is a very sweet puppy. She is nice to everything, she wants to play
with the cats and the goats, but the cats and goats don’t like her. Whenever anyone comes home, she is very
happy to see them, she wiggles around and jumps on them. We are trying to teach her not to jump on us.
Mae is doing very well with training, she does sometimes have accidents in the house when she gets excited,
but other than that she is doing well. Dad and I take her for walks.