Tell me about the Ethical Society

[Anonymous]

How about Machar? It is what you are discussing -- 100% atheists who like to discuss morals and making the world a better place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:WES did not grow out of Judaism. Yes, one of the founders of ethical culture was raised as a reform Jew but saw emancipation from Jewish ritual as a path out of antisemitism - by partnering with disaffected Christians, Quakers, etc. There is no relationship between WES and Jewish beliefs or ritual, my understanding is that Unitarians still have Jesus as part of their doctrine, so is Christian-lite.

Unitarian Universalists do not have Jesus as part of the doctrine. Actually, there is no doctrine. The closest thing that comes to it are the Principles. https://www.uua.org/beliefs/what-we-believe/principles

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WES did not grow out of Judaism. Yes, one of the founders of ethical culture was raised as a reform Jew but saw emancipation from Jewish ritual as a path out of antisemitism - by partnering with disaffected Christians, Quakers, etc. There is no relationship between WES and Jewish beliefs or ritual, my understanding is that Unitarians still have Jesus as part of their doctrine, so is Christian-lite.

Unitarian Universalists do not have Jesus as part of the doctrine. Actually, there is no doctrine. The closest thing that comes to it are the Principles. https://www.uua.org/beliefs/what-we-believe/principles

Correct - Jesus is not part of the UU doctrine and correct that there is no Jewish doctrine or ritual in ethical culture. I just said earlier that UU grew out of Christianity and Ethical culture grew out of Judaism. That is accurate. look it up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How about Machar? It is what you are discussing -- 100% atheists who like to discuss morals and making the world a better place.

I think that is the Jewish/Humanist congregation that I visited once, years ago - to see a Humanist (formerly Jewish) author talk about his book. Don't remember his name, but I think he was head of Harvard's humanist congregation at the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WES did not grow out of Judaism. Yes, one of the founders of ethical culture was raised as a reform Jew but saw emancipation from Jewish ritual as a path out of antisemitism - by partnering with disaffected Christians, Quakers, etc. There is no relationship between WES and Jewish beliefs or ritual, my understanding is that Unitarians still have Jesus as part of their doctrine, so is Christian-lite.

Unitarian Universalists do not have Jesus as part of the doctrine. Actually, there is no doctrine. The closest thing that comes to it are the Principles. https://www.uua.org/beliefs/what-we-believe/principles

Correct - Jesus is not part of the UU doctrine and correct that there is no Jewish doctrine or ritual in ethical culture. I just said earlier that UU grew out of Christianity and Ethical culture grew out of Judaism. That is accurate. look it up.

I was not responding to your post. I was responding to the post immediately before mine which said “ my understanding is that Unitarians still have Jesus as part of their doctrine, so is Christian-lite.” This statement is categorically false.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WES did not grow out of Judaism. Yes, one of the founders of ethical culture was raised as a reform Jew but saw emancipation from Jewish ritual as a path out of antisemitism - by partnering with disaffected Christians, Quakers, etc. There is no relationship between WES and Jewish beliefs or ritual, my understanding is that Unitarians still have Jesus as part of their doctrine, so is Christian-lite.

Unitarian Universalists do not have Jesus as part of the doctrine. Actually, there is no doctrine. The closest thing that comes to it are the Principles. https://www.uua.org/beliefs/what-we-believe/principles

Correct - Jesus is not part of the UU doctrine and correct that there is no Jewish doctrine or ritual in ethical culture. I just said earlier that UU grew out of Christianity and Ethical culture grew out of Judaism. That is accurate. look it up.

Ethical culture did not grow out of Judaism. That is a false statement. It’s like saying Scientology grew out of Christianity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WES did not grow out of Judaism. Yes, one of the founders of ethical culture was raised as a reform Jew but saw emancipation from Jewish ritual as a path out of antisemitism - by partnering with disaffected Christians, Quakers, etc. There is no relationship between WES and Jewish beliefs or ritual, my understanding is that Unitarians still have Jesus as part of their doctrine, so is Christian-lite.

Unitarian Universalists do not have Jesus as part of the doctrine. Actually, there is no doctrine. The closest thing that comes to it are the Principles. https://www.uua.org/beliefs/what-we-believe/principles

Correct - Jesus is not part of the UU doctrine and correct that there is no Jewish doctrine or ritual in ethical culture. I just said earlier that UU grew out of Christianity and Ethical culture grew out of Judaism. That is accurate. look it up.

Ethical culture did not grow out of Judaism. That is a false statement. It’s like saying Scientology grew out of Christianity.

Ethical Culture was started by a Jewish Rabbi, Felix Adler, in NYC. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethical_movement . In this way, it grew out of Judaism. Thus, Ethical Culture is like Unitarianism, which grew out of Christianity, but is in no way Christian. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitarian_Universalism https://www.uua.org/beliefs/what-we-believe/principles

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WES did not grow out of Judaism. Yes, one of the founders of ethical culture was raised as a reform Jew but saw emancipation from Jewish ritual as a path out of antisemitism - by partnering with disaffected Christians, Quakers, etc. There is no relationship between WES and Jewish beliefs or ritual, my understanding is that Unitarians still have Jesus as part of their doctrine, so is Christian-lite.

Unitarian Universalists do not have Jesus as part of the doctrine. Actually, there is no doctrine. The closest thing that comes to it are the Principles. https://www.uua.org/beliefs/what-we-believe/principles

Correct - Jesus is not part of the UU doctrine and correct that there is no Jewish doctrine or ritual in ethical culture. I just said earlier that UU grew out of Christianity and Ethical culture grew out of Judaism. That is accurate. look it up.

Ethical culture did not grow out of Judaism. That is a false statement. It’s like saying Scientology grew out of Christianity.

Ethical Culture was started by a Jewish Rabbi, Felix Adler, in NYC. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethical_movement . In this way, it grew out of Judaism. Thus, Ethical Culture is like Unitarianism, which grew out of Christianity, but is in no way Christian. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitarian_Universalism https://www.uua.org/beliefs/what-we-believe/principles

False. Felix Adler was not a rabbi. He was Jewish, but he was a college professor. Ethical culture was also started by ex-Christians spread in Europe with no connection to Adler. Thus, ethical culture did not grow out of Judaism. There are also Unitarians who see Jesus as a divine figure who inspires their humanism and charitable efforts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WES did not grow out of Judaism. Yes, one of the founders of ethical culture was raised as a reform Jew but saw emancipation from Jewish ritual as a path out of antisemitism - by partnering with disaffected Christians, Quakers, etc. There is no relationship between WES and Jewish beliefs or ritual, my understanding is that Unitarians still have Jesus as part of their doctrine, so is Christian-lite.

Unitarian Universalists do not have Jesus as part of the doctrine. Actually, there is no doctrine. The closest thing that comes to it are the Principles. https://www.uua.org/beliefs/what-we-believe/principles

Correct - Jesus is not part of the UU doctrine and correct that there is no Jewish doctrine or ritual in ethical culture. I just said earlier that UU grew out of Christianity and Ethical culture grew out of Judaism. That is accurate. look it up.

Ethical culture did not grow out of Judaism. That is a false statement. It’s like saying Scientology grew out of Christianity.

Ethical Culture was started by a Jewish Rabbi, Felix Adler, in NYC. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethical_movement . In this way, it grew out of Judaism. Thus, Ethical Culture is like Unitarianism, which grew out of Christianity, but is in no way Christian. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitarian_Universalism https://www.uua.org/beliefs/what-we-believe/principles

False. Felix Adler was not a rabbi. He was Jewish, but he was a college professor. Ethical culture was also started by ex-Christians spread in Europe with no connection to Adler. Thus, ethical culture did not grow out of Judaism. There are also Unitarians who see Jesus as a divine figure who inspires their humanism and charitable efforts.

Your right that he was not a Rabbi, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Adler_(professor) but he went to rabbinical school, his father was a rabbi, he gave a sermon of his father's Temple in NYC, and he started the Ethical Cultural movement. Ethical culture did indeed grow out of Judaism.

Regarding Unitarianism, there well may be individual Unitarians who see Jesus as a divine figure, but the institution does not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WES did not grow out of Judaism. Yes, one of the founders of ethical culture was raised as a reform Jew but saw emancipation from Jewish ritual as a path out of antisemitism - by partnering with disaffected Christians, Quakers, etc. There is no relationship between WES and Jewish beliefs or ritual, my understanding is that Unitarians still have Jesus as part of their doctrine, so is Christian-lite.

Unitarian Universalists do not have Jesus as part of the doctrine. Actually, there is no doctrine. The closest thing that comes to it are the Principles. https://www.uua.org/beliefs/what-we-believe/principles

Correct - Jesus is not part of the UU doctrine and correct that there is no Jewish doctrine or ritual in ethical culture. I just said earlier that UU grew out of Christianity and Ethical culture grew out of Judaism. That is accurate. look it up.

Ethical culture did not grow out of Judaism. That is a false statement. It’s like saying Scientology grew out of Christianity.

Ethical Culture was started by a Jewish Rabbi, Felix Adler, in NYC. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethical_movement . In this way, it grew out of Judaism. Thus, Ethical Culture is like Unitarianism, which grew out of Christianity, but is in no way Christian. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitarian_Universalism https://www.uua.org/beliefs/what-we-believe/principles

False. Felix Adler was not a rabbi. He was Jewish, but he was a college professor. Ethical culture was also started by ex-Christians spread in Europe with no connection to Adler. Thus, ethical culture did not grow out of Judaism. There are also Unitarians who see Jesus as a divine figure who inspires their humanism and charitable efforts.

Your right that he was not a Rabbi, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Adler_(professor) but he went to rabbinical school, his father was a rabbi, he gave a sermon of his father's Temple in NYC, and he started the Ethical Cultural movement. Ethical culture did indeed grow out of Judaism.

Regarding Unitarianism, there well may be individual Unitarians who see Jesus as a divine figure, but the institution does not.

False. I would actually try reading the Wikipedia you posted and the source citations. Felix Adler never attended rabbinic school, and he was just one of many leaders of the global ethical culture movement. Adler was a Kantist, if anything, ethical culture grew out of that. But nope, ethical cultural did not grow out of Judaism in any way. Some of the anti-ethical cultural folks loved to say ethical culture was Jewish and communist- neither was ever true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WES did not grow out of Judaism. Yes, one of the founders of ethical culture was raised as a reform Jew but saw emancipation from Jewish ritual as a path out of antisemitism - by partnering with disaffected Christians, Quakers, etc. There is no relationship between WES and Jewish beliefs or ritual, my understanding is that Unitarians still have Jesus as part of their doctrine, so is Christian-lite.

Unitarian Universalists do not have Jesus as part of the doctrine. Actually, there is no doctrine. The closest thing that comes to it are the Principles. https://www.uua.org/beliefs/what-we-believe/principles

Correct - Jesus is not part of the UU doctrine and correct that there is no Jewish doctrine or ritual in ethical culture. I just said earlier that UU grew out of Christianity and Ethical culture grew out of Judaism. That is accurate. look it up.

Ethical culture did not grow out of Judaism. That is a false statement. It’s like saying Scientology grew out of Christianity.

Ethical Culture was started by a Jewish Rabbi, Felix Adler, in NYC. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethical_movement . In this way, it grew out of Judaism. Thus, Ethical Culture is like Unitarianism, which grew out of Christianity, but is in no way Christian. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitarian_Universalism https://www.uua.org/beliefs/what-we-believe/principles

False. Felix Adler was not a rabbi. He was Jewish, but he was a college professor. Ethical culture was also started by ex-Christians spread in Europe with no connection to Adler. Thus, ethical culture did not grow out of Judaism. There are also Unitarians who see Jesus as a divine figure who inspires their humanism and charitable efforts.

Your right that he was not a Rabbi, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Adler_(professor) but he went to rabbinical school, his father was a rabbi, he gave a sermon of his father's Temple in NYC, and he started the Ethical Cultural movement. Ethical culture did indeed grow out of Judaism.

Regarding Unitarianism, there well may be individual Unitarians who see Jesus as a divine figure, but the institution does not.

False. I would actually try reading the Wikipedia you posted and the source citations. Felix Adler never attended rabbinic school, and he was just one of many leaders of the global ethical culture movement. Adler was a Kantist, if anything, ethical culture grew out of that. But nope, ethical cultural did not grow out of Judaism in any way. Some of the anti-ethical cultural folks loved to say ethical culture was Jewish and communist- neither was ever true.

I actually read the wikipedia page I posted and took back the original comment that Adler was a Rabbi. He was Jewish, however, and so was his father, a Rabbi. And Wikipedia says Felix Jr originally intended to follow in his father's footsteps. I think you are being overly defensive. I am not one of the anti-ethical cultural folks you mention.

[Anonymous]

We joined many years ago. I didn't jive with mainstream organized religion so I thought this would be good. We had young kids and they had a Sunday school program and life cycle type celebrations.

In the end, I realized that basically it was just, well, another organized religion. They were happy to have families join- more income coming in because there was a building and salaries to pay. I had no real beef with anything, but yeah, the kids were out of control in the Sunday school classes it seemed- that was a thing like anywhere, and my kids didn't like having to go- and, yes, there were little cliques just like any church, etc., nothing weird or over the top but I had to ask myself, why are we even doing this? Our religion ended up being no religion, and for the next three decades we were fine with that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We joined many years ago. I didn't jive with mainstream organized religion so I thought this would be good. We had young kids and they had a Sunday school program and life cycle type celebrations.

In the end, I realized that basically it was just, well, another organized religion. They were happy to have families join- more income coming in because there was a building and salaries to pay. I had no real beef with anything, but yeah, the kids were out of control in the Sunday school classes it seemed- that was a thing like anywhere, and my kids didn't like having to go- and, yes, there were little cliques just like any church, etc., nothing weird or over the top but I had to ask myself, why are we even doing this? Our religion ended up being no religion, and for the next three decades we were fine with that.

Sounds like the answer to "why are we even doing this" was to fit in with people going to church on Sundays and you decided it wasn't worth to your family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We joined many years ago. I didn't jive with mainstream organized religion so I thought this would be good. We had young kids and they had a Sunday school program and life cycle type celebrations.

In the end, I realized that basically it was just, well, another organized religion. They were happy to have families join- more income coming in because there was a building and salaries to pay. I had no real beef with anything, but yeah, the kids were out of control in the Sunday school classes it seemed- that was a thing like anywhere, and my kids didn't like having to go- and, yes, there were little cliques just like any church, etc., nothing weird or over the top but I had to ask myself, why are we even doing this? Our religion ended up being no religion, and for the next three decades we were fine with that.

Sounds like the answer to "why are we even doing this" was to fit in with people going to church on Sundays and you decided it wasn't worth to your family.

No, not at all. It was an experiment. I was not a Christian to begin with. My husband and I came from 2 different religious traditions which caused a bit of a cultural problem within our families of origin, with several siblings totally involved in serious religious belief and practice. Neither of us were heavily into our family of origin's religion, as we were agnostic/ atheist. When the cousins and friends of our kids started constant conversations with our kids about religion,the bible, etc., we were quite happy to explain that these were not our beliefs, but frankly, society in the 80s and 90s wasn't as flexible as we would have hoped with regard to this type of non practice. We thought something like the Ethical Society would give them a community they could relate to. Families came from all over, no one lived together in any local real community for relationships to develop, although I'm sure there were some that did along the way. There wasn't really any body of concept or belief that superseded what we were already teaching the kids. We didn't feel the need to congregate over it all in the end.

There was a lot of $$ required, as in any congregation, to keep it all going, and that was a large and continual focus. There were many pleasant things, I have no complaints, but sometimes not being a religion still becomes an organized religion, and we learned that. Our kids are still not involved in religion, they have their own kids, and now no one really cares. We were, and are, just iconoclasts, more acceptable now than before.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We joined many years ago. I didn't jive with mainstream organized religion so I thought this would be good. We had young kids and they had a Sunday school program and life cycle type celebrations.

In the end, I realized that basically it was just, well, another organized religion. They were happy to have families join- more income coming in because there was a building and salaries to pay. I had no real beef with anything, but yeah, the kids were out of control in the Sunday school classes it seemed- that was a thing like anywhere, and my kids didn't like having to go- and, yes, there were little cliques just like any church, etc., nothing weird or over the top but I had to ask myself, why are we even doing this? Our religion ended up being no religion, and for the next three decades we were fine with that.

Sounds like the answer to "why are we even doing this" was to fit in with people going to church on Sundays and you decided it wasn't worth to your family.

No, not at all. It was an experiment. I was not a Christian to begin with. My husband and I came from 2 different religious traditions which caused a bit of a cultural problem within our families of origin, with several siblings totally involved in serious religious belief and practice. Neither of us were heavily into our family of origin's religion, as we were agnostic/ atheist. When the cousins and friends of our kids started constant conversations with our kids about religion,the bible, etc., we were quite happy to explain that these were not our beliefs, but frankly, society in the 80s and 90s wasn't as flexible as we would have hoped with regard to this type of non practice. We thought something like the Ethical Society would give them a community they could relate to. Families came from all over, no one lived together in any local real community for relationships to develop, although I'm sure there were some that did along the way. There wasn't really any body of concept or belief that superseded what we were already teaching the kids. We didn't feel the need to congregate over it all in the end.

There was a lot of $$ required, as in any congregation, to keep it all going, and that was a large and continual focus. There were many pleasant things, I have no complaints, but sometimes not being a religion still becomes an organized religion, and we learned that. Our kids are still not involved in religion, they have their own kids, and now no one really cares. We were, and are, just iconoclasts, more acceptable now than before.

Interesting. Thanks for the detail, which sounds to me like you wanted to fit in with people who went regularly to religious services , but found out that it didn't work well for your family. And maybe (hopefully, IMO) you're right --not belonging to any group as a family is just more acceptable now than it used to be.