EthicalStL.org

Discussions about the ethics surrounding vaccinations bring up several interesting issues that are relevant not just with respect to vaccines but with respect to our outlook on the role and responsibility of the individual within the context of our larger society. This talk will use the debate surrounding vaccinations to elucidate such topics as individual liberty and autonomy versus community responsibility. Concepts such as "free riders," "herd immunity," and the "social contract" will be explained. Finally, some controversies surrounding the alleged harms of vaccines will be addressed. lt;brgt;lt;brgt;Dr. Martin Reis is an Assistant Professor of Radiology at St. Louis University and practices neuroradiology at St. Louis University Hospital and Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center. He has an interest in biomedical ethics. A native of St. Louis, Dr. Reis is also a member of the Ethical Society of St. Louis.

Today there’s an ever increasing amount of research on how to improve your child's IQ, academic performance, and leadership skills, and the childhood development industry aggressively markets products to encourage this growth. Sorting through information and products can be daunting. Yet, if the goal of parents is to rear children who will grow up to lead meaningful lives, lives based on respect, acceptance, and caring, it is time to go back to the basics. Children need to play. lt;brgt;lt;brgt;Ellen Schapiro is in her fifteenth year as director of the Ethical Society Nursery School (ESNS). Prior to becoming director, she taught for eight years at the nursery school. Her career in education includes teaching at middle school and working with children in a variety of other positions throughout the years. Ellen has a BA in French and an MEd with an emphasis in Experiential Education from the University of Colorado.

Criminal Justice Ministry (CJM), until recently a program of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, has been selected as the recipient of the 2013 Ethical Humanist of the Year award. This selection was made by a committee of five Society members which reviewed over 45 recommendations for several nominees. The Board of Trustees has voted its approval. lt;brgt;lt;brgt;Criminal Justice Ministry offers support to prisoners and those who have recently been released from prison. The organization provides pen pals and prayer sessions for prisoners. CJM gives "Welcome Backpacks" to people newly released from prison providing them with personal items, and CJM aids them in obtaining essential identification documents. Also, CJM provides rental assistance for some just released prisoners. These charitable efforts give comfort and reduce recidivism. lt;brgt;lt;brgt;The EHOY committee selected CJM because CJM recognizes the worth in those who may not be seen as worthy by many in our society. CJM's work is directed toward the humanist ideal that the supreme aim of human life is to create a more humane society. The committee views CJM's work as consistent with the efforts of the American Ethical Union to improve our nation's criminal justice system.

Waukegan, Illinois, in the 1950's was a bustling industrial town of around 50,000, with just a few hundred Jewish families. Esther Bedik will share her memories of growing up as a Jewish child in a sea of “goyim” (non-Jews). She will reflect on what her Jewish education taught her about God and the place of the Jews in history and what her Jewish upbringing taught her about survival, politics, laughter, and matzo ball soup. lt;brgt;lt;brgt; A member of a kibbutz in Israel from 1975 to 1988, Esther moved from Connecticut to St. Louis in 2012. She accidentally stumbled upon the Ethical Society while looking for a good corned beef sandwich in Clayton and has felt right at home ever since.

My two platforms in October will look at the related topics of gentleness and violence. Popular culture denigrates gentleness as "weakness" and violence as "strength" and teaches us that the right and righteous response to evil is to kick its ass. But does this view match our understanding and our values as Ethical Humanists? And if not, what can we do to promote an alternate view within our own minds and families as well as in the wider culture?

Kicking off the 2013-14 season, we'll be asking how we as members and the Ethical Society as an organization can reach out beyond our current limits. Our tradition is not to proselytize, so how do we let people know the good news about our Welcoming Home for Humanists? How can we welcome a greater diversity of people through our doors? And what further opportunities are there to support humanism and ethical action both in the St. Louis region and far beyond? Come find out how we can boldly go where we haven't gone before!

This talk will explore the prominent role of CSR (corporate social responsibility) in today’s society. Many for-profit corporations identify themselves with particular causes (breast cancer) or advertise aspects of their products or business practices ("cruelty free") which have ethical components in order to promote their companies as ethically distinct from the normal for-profit model. Many consumers likewise attempt to align their purchases to express their political and ethical commitments. The idea is that is possible to effect social change through consumption. Drawing on my recent book Brandishing the First Amendment: Commercial Expression in America I will discuss why most of these efforts are futile and how they serve instead as a basis for corporations to lay claim to the expressive rights previously thought to belong only to human beings with detrimental consequences to our welfare. lt;brgt;lt;brgt;Professor Piety teaches at the University of Tulsa College of Law and is the author of "Brandishing the First Amendment" which discusses the threat posed by corporate and commercial speech to public safety, health and welfare. She is also the author of several articles including, "Citizens United and the Threat to the Regulatory State" and "A Necessary Cost of Freedom? The Incoherence of Sorrell v. IMS Health." She is a graduate of Harvard and the University of Miami School of Law. Prior to Tulsa she was a Teaching Fellow at Stanford Law School and has been a visiting professor at the University of Missouri and Florida State law schools.

The Latter-Day Saints, or Mormons, have been featured quite prominently in the media over the last couple of years, due to the candidacy of Mitt Romney for President and the Book of Mormon musical. Having spent a number of years in the Latter-Day Saint faith, I will review what I learned from this experience and what I believe that we, as ethical humanists, can learn from the Mormons and people of faith. lt;brgt;lt;brgt;Christine Floss is a research professor in the Physics Department at Washington University. Raised as an atheist, her search for community led to the exploration of a variety of religious and spiritual faiths, including a 10-year stint with the Latter-Day Saints. She eventually found her spiritual home at the Ethical Society and has been a member for the last five years.

Ben Schuldt will discuss the ethics of his journey from Missouri Synod Lutheranism, to Eastern Orthodoxy, and eventually to secular humanism. It is a tale of personal folly, righteous zeal, and mental illness. Ben Schuldt has been a member of the Ethical Society for the last few years. He is married to Andy Semler, he headed up the Responsible Public Rebate forum, and he has a bachelor's degree in Media Arts and Animation from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh.

Little is known about the Baha'i Faith, yet it is second only to Christianity as the most wide spread religion in the world according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. Cheryl will take you from it's beginnings with The Bab (the gate) and Baha'u'llah (the Glory of God) in the early 1800's in Persia, Constantinople, Adrianople, Akko, Haifa, into her life in 1971, to the jungles of Panama as a pioneer, and finally leaving the Baha'i Faith and becoming a member of the Ethical Society 37 years later. Cheryl will share some photos of her two years with the Kuna indigenous villages in Panama. lt;brgt;lt;brgt; Cheryl Thomas signed her card as a member of the Baha'i Faith in 1971. Up until that point she attended Washington University in the business school and worked at Washington University in the Sociology Department. After being "touched" by God and hearing his message, she left St. Louis and went to Panama as a Baha'i Pioneer to live with the Kuna communities for two years. The Kuna live in the mainland jungle and on the San Blas Islands just off the coast of Panama above Columbia. She married in 1974 and came back to St. Louis and founded an insurance agency, R. T. Thomas amp; Co., Inc. along with her first husband. He died in 1998 and she carried on the insurance agency until her two wonderful children took over ownership and now she works for them. Cheryl became a member of the Society in 2008. Cheryl also remarried her second wonderful husband, Rox-Roy Edwards in 2005.