Ethical Inquiry

I recently read an op-ed piece by Robert Reich on Wal-Mart in the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/28/opinion/28reich.html?incamp=article_popular_5

It included the following:

In the eyes of Wal-Mart's detractors, the Arkansas-based chain embodies the worst kind of economic exploitation: it pays its 1.2 million American workers an average of only $9.68 an hour, doesn't provide most of them with health insurance, keeps out unions, has a checkered history on labor law and turns main streets into ghost towns by sucking business away from small retailers.

But isn't Wal-Mart really being punished for our sins? After all, it's not as if Wal-Mart's founder, Sam Walton, and his successors created the world's largest retailer by putting a gun to our heads and forcing us to shop there.

Instead, Wal-Mart has lured customers with low prices. "We expect our suppliers to drive the costs out of the supply chain," a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart said. "It's good for us and good for them."

I had the pleasure of being in St. Louis visiting my family on January 17th, the day set aside this year to celebrate the birthday and honor the vision and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

One of the foundational beliefs of Ethical Culture is that we exercise ethical choice in our lives. Are we truly free to choose? Recent advances in brain physiology and evolutionary biology challenge long held beliefs in psychology and philosophy regarding our ability to exercise free will. Do we act as free agents making moral decisions? When are we accountable for our actions? Do we use reason to evaluate choices and change behavior?

I’m a believer in Stories. I know that Stories convey important ideas that hold powerful meaning in our lives.

The Storyteller in the Arabian Knights says:

People need stories more than bread itself, they tell us how to live, and why.

“The industrious classes have been called the bone and marrow of the nation; but they are in fact the nation itself. The fruits of their industry are the nation’s wealth; their moral integrity and physical health is the nation’s strength; their ease and independence is the nation’s prosperity; their intellectual intelligence is the nation’s hope. Where the producing laborer and useful artisan eat well, sleep well, live comfortably, think correctly, speak fearlessly, and act uprightly, the nation is happy, free and wise. Has such a nation ever been? No. Can such a nation ever be? Answer, men of industry of the United States! If such can be, it is here. If such is to be, it must be your work.”

Fanny had developed her fourth Utopian Vision, to transform America and achieve Liberty and Justice for All.

On July 4, 1828, Frances Wright was the main speaker at New Harmony’s Independence Day celebration. As such she was probably the first woman in America to be the main speaker for a large, mixed public audience.

Where do my morals and ethics come from if I do not accept the divine revelation of scripture?

Since I do not draw on external authority, instead, I look inside of myself, down into the depths of my humanity. I look deep inside and I ask myself: What do I truly value? What inspires me? What brings me happiness? What connects me to others, to nature, to the environment? What enhances my life and spirit? What is beautiful and good? What makes me who I am?

Is “Spirituality Without God” an oxymoron?

This is what I propose to explore.

“Science and technology have made traditional religion obsolete. People are ready to embrace a philosophy that provides human-derived meaning to their lives and focus on improving the human condition.”

Versions of this sentiment were expressed in 1876, by Felix Adler, the founder of the Ethical Culture Movement; in 1933, by the signers of the first Humanist Manifesto; in 1973, by still more signers of the Humanist Manifesto II; and in the year 2000, when announcing the beginning of “the Humanist Century” – yet it has not come to pass.