Podcasts
Recordings of Sunday Platform addresses
Culture and politics today are riven with debates about social justice. Black Lives Matter and the #MeToo movement are social justice campaigns which have become international phenomena. At the heart of these movements are so-called “social justice warriors”: people who take to the streets (and their keyboards and phones) to promote their vision of social justice. But what does it mean to be a social justice warrior, and should we become one?
The epidemic of gun violence is of deep concern to most Americans. Yet it often seems as if we’re stuck in a cycle of tragedy, “thoughts and prayers, and political stalemate. What progress has been made and how might we achieve more?
A special Platform presenting the 2018 Ethical Society of St. Louis Ethics in Action Award to Jorge Riopedre, president and CEO of Casa de Salud, a clinic providing high-quality, low-cost clinical and mental healthcare to the uninsured, focusing on the new immigrant community.
Jorge founded a media production company specializing in the Hispanic market, and then became the executive director of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan St. Louis. He is a 2015 Eisenhower Fellow, having traveled to Germany and Mexico to study the healthcare systems of those countries, and is now president of the Eisenhower Fellowships St. Louis chapter. Jorge co-founded the St. Louis New American Alliance, which provides referral services to foreign-born individuals throughout the region.
Jorge says, “The Internet and social media have made it easy to connect and given us a megaphone to express ourselves on every topic imaginable, and yet our isolation from each other has increased; we seem to be less willing or able to actually do something to drive change. Actions, not words, are what the world needs from us, and what we need for ourselves.”
Deed Before Creed is one of the best known sayings in the Ethical Humanist movement. It has become a sort of motto for our community, expressing something important about our approach to religious beliefs and ethical values. But what does this motto mean? What is the relationship between our beliefs and our values, and does it matter?
Jé Hooper is in the Leader-in-Training program of the American Ethical Union and the Ph.D Interdisciplinary Arts program at Ohio University. His work promotes the intersections of art, justice, and religious ethics in efforts to obtain social equity. An AEU Mossler Fellow, Jé is working on a film entitled “Humanitas: Conscious Coloring of Kindness,” in which Felix Adler and W.E.B. DuBois are re-imagined in a histocontemporary retrospective.
Our 2018-19 monthly themes are all related to the Ethical Society’s Statement of Purpose, which you can read around the building and at https://ethicalstl.org/who-we-are. What does it mean to Ethical Humanists to live a life of purpose? What are some of the sources of a sense of purpose, for an individual or an organization? Come explore these and related questions, and hear about the year we have in store!
For this year’s “compare and contrast” Platform address, instead of looking at similarities and differences between the Ethical Society and another tradition, we’ll explore how the views and practices of Ethical Societies have changed over time. What would Ethical Society members of 100, 50, or even 20 years ago recognize in the Ethical Society of today? What would they find has changed? And what does our history suggest about how the Ethical Society might continue to develop in the future?
In Becoming Ms. Burton: From Prison to Recovery to Leading the Fight for Incarcerated Women, Susan Burton details her life experiences growing up impoverished in California, navigating abuse, addiction, poverty, and the cyclical nature of imprisonment in the US, and how she broke free and became an inspiring leader. Her story is both tragic and hopeful, and is the focus of the “One Book, One Ethical Society” initiative. In this year of exploring emotions, Samantha and Krystal will share their own reflections of growing up and their memories prompted by Susan’s life.
Samantha N. White is a Kentucky native but, after 11 years, considers St. Louis to be her home. She is an avid reader and loves food, hiking, volunteering, and playing board games with friends and family. Samantha is also a social justice advocate, is heavily involved in the Ethical Society End Racism Team efforts, and recently joined the Society’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee. Her sister, Krystal Sno White, is an educator and volunteer who currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the Ethical Society of Saint Louis and NARAL Pro-Choice Missouri.
Sweaty palms, a racing heartbeat and a gasp as you catch your breath. Did you just get attacked by a wild animal? Or did you just run into the love of your life? No matter what you think, your body responds the same! Find out more about the biological underpinnings of emotions in this Platform.
How as human beings do we look inside ourselves in order to develop ourselves emotionally? If we don’t believe there is a higher power to provide us with answers to life’s conundrums, how do we look inside ourselves to find wisdom that helps us overcome our insecurities as a person? This Platform offers a humanist’s insight into how to grow and mature as a person as we move through life’s trials, tribulations and wonders.
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