Ethical Humanist Society of the Triangle

Secular Student Alliance - Mission, Goals, and Scholarships
2024-09-08 13:30 - 15:30 (America/New_York) | Virtual Program using Zoom
Kevin Bolling, executive director of the Secular Student Alliance, will talk about the SSA’s mission, goals, and scholarships program for secular students. The Secular Student Alliance is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and the only national organization dedicated to atheist, humanist, and other non-theist students. The scholarships are available to full-time students enrolled in high school or college in the United States and are designed to support students who in addition to pursuing excellence in their academic studies are also activists for secular values on their campus and/or in their community.
This program will be presented via a Zoom session. You do not need a Zoom account to “attend” this virtual meeting. If you would like to be a participant in the meeting, please use our contact us form to make your request. (Check your tabs to see the form.)

Restoring Reproductive Rights
2024-09-04 19:00 - 20:00 | NC

Postcarding to Get Out the Vote in November 2024
2024-09-01 13:30 - 15:30 | Extraordinary Ventures, 200 S. Elliott Rd, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
As EHST did in 2020 and 2022, we will be postcarding to get out the vote as our third quarter social action project. The stakes could not be higher in this election. Postcarding is a non-partisan activity to encourage occasional voters to participate in our democracy. Our efforts will focus on Mecklenburg County in our own ‘swing state’ of North Carolina. This campaign is sponsored by the Center for Common Good.
Postcards are scripted (no creative writing required) and all supplies and instructions will be provided. Refreshments will be provided as well.
Come out and join us to make a difference in 2024!
This meeting is In-Person only.

Ethical Considerations of Animal Shelters
2024-08-25 13:30 - 15:30 | Extraordinary Ventures, 200 S. Elliott Rd, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Maura Breidt will present a program on ethical considerations of animal shelters, focusing on Wake SPCA, where she is a volunteer. The program will be structured first with an overview of some of the volunteer opportunities, focusing on some of the volunteer jobs that she herself is involved with, and then move to some of the ethical dilemmas people who work there face and how they deal with them. You may want to check out the history of the Society to Prevent Cruelty to Animals
This meeting is a Zoom “hybrid” meeting. We will meet at our regular venue, Extraordinary Ventures, where the program will take place. We will also Zoom the program. If you wish to attend via Zoom, please use our contact form to make the request.

Local Trends in Housing and Homelessness
2024-08-18 13:30 - 15:30 | Extraordinary Ventures, 200 S. Elliott Rd, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Russell Pierce will speak about local trends in housing and homelessness. He is the executive director of “Housing for New Hope” which is a local organization which addresses these issues. He will explore challenges facing our most vulnerable neighbors: those experiencing homelessness. He’ll take a particular look at gentrification and how rising housing costs impact people in our community. He will share how people in the community are partnering with our most vulnerable neighbors to obtain housing and remain housed.
This meeting is a Zoom “hybrid” meeting. We will meet at our regular venue, Extraordinary Ventures, where the program will take place. We will also Zoom the program. If you wish to attend via Zoom, please use our contact form to make the request.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion : Ted Talks and Discussion
2024-08-11 13:30 - 15:30 | Virtual Program using Zoom
EHST will show two Ted Talks which explain what Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is, and whether we should embrace it or celebrate its apparent demise. One talk focuses on how DEI can make teams more effective. The other Ted Talk points out what DEI gets wrong, and how to do it right. We will then discuss our own individual views on the talks.
This program will be presented via a Zoom session. You do not need a Zoom account to “attend” this virtual meeting. If you would like to be a participant in the meeting, please use our contact us form to make your request. (Check your tabs to see the form.)

Making State Legislative Campaigns More Effective
2024-08-04 13:30 - 15:30 | Extraordinary Ventures, 200 S. Elliott Rd, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Simone Leiro is the Chief Communications Officer for The States Project, whose electoral work focuses on winning governing majorities in the states by making state legislative campaigns more effective and better-funded.
“We do it because we believe that state legislatures are the strongest force for change in this country. When it comes to defending our democracy, protecting personal freedoms, and improving people’s day-to-day lives, we’re the only national organization hyper-focused on both winning state legislative power and helping state lawmakers govern effectively.”
Ms. Leiro will talk about her organization and its goals, and specifically, what they are up to in North Carolina.
Simone Leiro is the Chief Communications Officer at The States Project. She oversees press, polling, and messaging at The States Project which, under her leadership, has been featured in outlets such as the New York Times, The Atlantic, CNN, MSNBC, and Washington Post. Previously, she served in the White House under President Obama as the Associate Director for Online Engagement where she did digital strategy for the Executive Office of the President. In this role, she also focused on issues impacting women and Latino Americans. She has previously led across communications, digital, and partnerships—most recently for efforts such as March For Our Lives and All In Together. She currently serves on the board of Blue Future, connecting young people with campaigns. She was born and raised in North Carolina and today, lives there with her husband.
This program will also be Zoomed for EHST members only.

Aspirations for Ethical Culture - Louise Jett
2024-07-28 14:00 - 15:30 | Virtual Program using Zoom
2024 American Ethical Union Assembly Platform features Ethical Culture Leader Louise Jett. She will discuss her aspirations for Ethical Culture and the importance of clergy within our movement and Societies. Louise was certified by the Union’s Board on the recommendation of the Leadership Committee in June.

To watch this event, please register at: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcoceqopj4pE92Bl1dKa-cWlpkm1WHw9Hbw#/registration

Ethical Consideration of Animal Shelters
2024-07-21 13:30 - 15:30 | Extraordinary Ventures, 200 S. Elliott Rd, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Maura Breidt will present a program on ethical considerations of animal shelters, focussing on Wake SPCA. She is a volunteer there and so will speak from her experiences there. The program will be structured first with an overview of how the Wake SPCA works, and then with some of the ethical dilemmas that it faces and how it deals with them.
This meeting is a Zoom “hybrid” meeting. We will meet at our regular venue, Extraordinary Ventures, where the program will take place. We will also Zoom the program. If you wish to attend via Zoom, please use our contact form to make the request.

Freethinking, Freeteaching, Freewriting
2024-07-14 13:30 - 15:30 | Virtual Program using Zoom
Teacher, writer and humanist celebrant Chris Highland will discuss how and why he has written “Highland Views” columns for the Religion pages of a newspaper for 8 years under subjects of freethinking, freeteaching, and freewriting. Sharing snippets of columns as well as stories of interactions with readers—including evangelicals and atheists—reveals the impact of his writing and teaching across the landscape of beliefs.

Since 2016, Chris Highland has written a weekly “Highland Views” column for the Asheville Citizen-Times (in the USA Today network). As a former Presbyterian minister, interfaith chaplain, shelter director and senior housing manager, he draws from a deep well of experience in human service and progressive ministry.
Transitioning from a Christian and interfaith background to embrace a secular humanist worldview, he presents an inclusive perspective that is not anti-religious but affirming of a world where people of faith and non-theists can potentially find common ground.

His first book, Meditations of John Muir (2001), has led to a series of books including A Freethinker’s Gospel, Intersections, Eye to Eye, Beyond the Boundaries of Belief and other collections of essays. Chris teaches courses on Freethought, Humanism and Christian Nationalism at the Reuter Center on the campus of UNCA. Chris and his wife, Rev. Carol Hovis, a teacher and counselor, moved to Asheville from the SF Bay Area in 2016.His website is “Friendly Freethinker” (www.chighland.com).

This program will be presented via a Zoom session. You do not need a Zoom account to “attend” this virtual meeting. If you would like to be a participant in the meeting, please use our contact us form to make your request. (Check your tabs to see the form.)

Standing Up To Book Banning
2024-06-30 11:00 - 12:00 | Virtual Program using Zoom
EHST will join the Zoom presentation by Dr. Christopher Harris, a senior policy fellow with the American Library Association (ALA). Book banning from all types of libraries continue to rise at an unprecedented level across the country. The American Library Association reported attempts to censor 4,249 unique titles of library books and resources in 2023. This is the highest number of attempted book bans since ALA began compiling data about censorship in libraries more than 20 years ago and a 65% increase over 2022. Learn how concerned people can support the Freedom to Read along with the many partners of the Unite Against Book Bans campaign led by the ALA.
To join in this presentation, registration is required. You may do so here. This event is sponsored by the American Ethical Union.

Ethical Culture and What it Means to Our Members and Friends
2024-06-23 13:30 - 15:30 | Extraordinary Ventures, 200 S. Elliott Rd, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
In the wake of a very successful booth at the Juneteenth Celebration held by CORE (Community Organizing for Racial Equity) at the Chatham County Fairgrounds in Pittsboro, we would like our members and friends to consider the following:
1) What sort of journey brought you to become interested in Ethical Culture aka Ethical Humanism?
2) If you were manning a booth at the Juneteenth Celebration for EHST, how would you promote us?
If time permits, we will also discuss ethical approaches to the current political climate.

Please join us for this IN-PERSON ONLY meeting! There will be no Zoom available for this Sunday.

No Meeting Today
2024-06-16 13:30 - 15:30 | Extraordinary Ventures, 200 S. Elliott Rd, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
EHST will NOT have a meeting today. We are participating in the Juneteenth celebration in Pittsboro, sponsored by CORE, Community Organizing for Racial Equity. This event will be on Saturday, June 15th. Check out the Facebook page for this event.

Living Our Ethical Humanism to Bring Out Our Best
2024-06-09 13:30 | Virtual Program using Zoom
Khandra Sears will address how living our ethical humanism will bring out our best. Her relationship with Ethical Humanism began as she pursued an undergraduate degree in microbiology and began to question what faith and the Bible meant to her. As she moved to Baltimore to earn a Ph.D. in Microbiology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM), she started to attend Baltimore Ethical Society Platforms and went on to join them as a member. She is now President of the American Ethical Union, the national organization of ethical humanist/culture societies in the U.S.

This program will be presented via a Zoom session. You do not need a Zoom account to “attend” this virtual meeting. If you would like to be a participant in the meeting, please use our contact us form to make your request. (Check your tabs to see the form.)

UNC Under Fire: The Coalition for Carolina Responds
2024-06-02 13:30 - 15:30 | Extraordinary Ventures, 200 S. Elliott Rd, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Mimi Chapman will talk about some of the critical moments in recent UNC Chapel Hill history and how the Coalition for Carolina was formed. She will talk about the aims of the Coalition, how it organizes its work, and will engage in question and answer with the audience.
This meeting is a Zoom “hybrid” meeting. We will meet at our regular venue, Extraordinary Ventures, where the program will take place. We will also Zoom the program. If you wish to attend via Zoom, please use our contact form to make the request.

Poetry Sunday: A Celebration of Our Humanity Through the Arts
2024-05-26 13:30 - 15:30 | Extraordinary Ventures, 200 S. Elliott Rd, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
This Sunday’s program has been organized by Hugh Giblin, longtime friend of the Ethical Humanist Society of the Triangle. Hugh and two other poets, Pam Baggett and Jay Niver, will read from their original works. Following are a few details about the three of them:

Pam Baggett is author of Wild Horses (Main Street Rag, 2018), which received an honorable mention for the Brockman-Campbell Award. Other awards include an Ella Fountain Pratt Emerging Artist Grant and a 2019-20 Fellowship in Literature from the North Carolina Arts Council. Recent work is featured in Orange County’s Coalesce Project and will soon be displayed on the Lake Johnson Nature Trail in Raleigh. Pam teaches occasional writing workshops through her library in Hillsborough and writes in a sunny studio overlooking a meadow in Cedar Grove.

Jay Niver is an award-winning, career journalist and public-relations specialist who sometimes dabbles in poetry and creative writing. He was a reporter and editor of weekly newspapers in suburban Cleveland, Ohio; Charleston, South Carolina; and Topsail Island and Beaufort County in North Carolina. He also worked as a copy-desk editor for the daily papers in Wilmington and Jacksonville. Jay spent 30 years in the Carolinas before moving to western Canada in 2009, and returned to North Carolina just a few years ago. Jay is very involved with the Final Exit Network, a national nonprofit organization that supports the human right to death with dignity. He is also known to play pool upon occasion.

Hugh Giblin has been writing for years and has a full file of rejections to prove it. He has published a book, a non-fiction feature article in a national men’s magazine, poetry in literary journals, local and online, and has had two ten minute plays produced. His muse is currently on strike, but we hope that will change soon. In the meantime, he remains active and engaged in the world around us, and maintains his humanist values.

Ethical Action: Rise Against Hunger
2024-05-19 14:00 - 16:00 | NC
Come join us for an afternoon of fun and camaraderie with three other Triangle secular groups: the Triangle Freethought Society, Women without Religion in the Triangle, and the Chapel Hill Sunday Assembly. In lieu of our usual program meeting, EHST will host an event at Rise Against Hunger as our 2nd quarter service project at the Rise Against Hunger warehouse in Raleigh. We need more volunteers and time is running out. Register to participate or donate here. This is a non-strenuous event and suitable for all ages.

This event is in person only, and so no Zoom participation will take place.

Restoring Reproductive Rights - Challenging Abortion Bans
2024-05-14 19:00 - 20:00, 2024-05-13 10:00 - 11:00 | NC
Tired and frustrated with abortion bans, denial of access to life-saving care, and insensitive politicians? Join in the fight against attacks on our rights as people! Find out more in a 1 hour presentation on working to achieve equality, control, and bodily autonomy, from understanding what novel options are available to challenging state abortion bans. Solomon Gibson, III, will show you what you can do in this struggle for reproductive freedom.

Happiness: A Brief Overview and Discussion
2024-05-12 13:30 - 15:30 | Virtual Program using Zoom
What makes you happy? EHST member, Maura Breidt, will give a presentation on the nature of happiness. How do people define happiness? Are there differences in these definitions across cultures? Across age groups? Is happiness innate or learned? Can we choose happiness, and if so, how?
This program will be presented via a Zoom session. You do not need a Zoom account to “attend” this virtual meeting. If you would like to be a participant in the meeting, please use our contact us form to make your request. (Check your tabs to see the form.)

Ethics, How We Learn Them, and the Importance of Civility in Communication
2024-05-05 13:30 - 15:30 | Extraordinary Ventures, 200 S. Elliott Rd, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
We live in a difficult time for ethical discourse, with tremendous polarity of viewpoints as well as very strong emotions and opinions about a myriad of topics, impacting events on a local, state, national, and international level. Even in conversations with people whose values align reasonably well with our own, we often struggle to find common ground. This becomes even more difficult when faced with people whose views seem alien and unethical from our viewpoints. This Sunday’s talk discussion will begin at the beginning: How did we learn our ethics? Do your ethical views come from your parents and family, or from later life experiences? We will then move to more discussion of current events. Our goal is to discuss events and our reactions to them with civility and an openness to hearing what others have to say.

This program will not be available via Zoom.

Is the US Headed for Civil War or Just a Political Shift?
2024-04-28 13:30 - 15:30 | Extraordinary Ventures, 200 S. Elliott Rd, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Is the US headed for civil war? Is the Neo-Confederate Movement a serious threat, or just people mostly concerned about the tearing down of historic monuments? Might the US abandon democracy in the 2024 election or in early 2025? Or is the US essentially stable and simply going through a realignment of the political parties not unlike the six or seven previous political party realignments in American history? Jim Buie will help us examine our uncertain future.
Jim Buie, a native North Carolinian, is a long-term observer of American politics, and a participant-activist since age 16. He is a graduate of the UNC Journalism School, a former newspaperman in Fayetteville, Durham, and Raleigh, with a master’s degree in journalism and public policy from American University in Washington, DC. He is currently an adjunct instructor in Communications for Augusta University in Georgia, and the publisher of a Substack on the themes of Slender Threads / Global Citizens / Public History, which includes mini-courses on the themes of this presentation. He lives in Fearrington Village. He spoke to us in 2021 about culture shocks in his travels.
This meeting is a Zoom “hybrid” meeting. We will meet at our regular venue, Extraordinary Ventures, where the program will take place. We will also Zoom the program. If you wish to attend via Zoom, please use our contact form to make your request.

Earth Day 2024 and Climate Change
2024-04-21 13:30 - 15:30 | Extraordinary Ventures, 200 S. Elliott Rd, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
EHST will celebrate Earth Day with a talk by Chris Kaman, a longtime member and environmentalist. He will delve into climate change, highlighting current challenges, and various technologies for the future. He will also make recommendations for what each of us can do.
This meeting is a Zoom “hybrid” meeting. We will meet at our regular venue, Extraordinary Ventures, where the program will take place. We will also Zoom the program. If you wish to attend via Zoom, please use our contact form to make the request.

Restoring Reproductive Rights
2024-04-16 18:30 - 19:30 | NC

Why Gender Equality Matters to Climate Change
2024-04-14 13:30 - 15:30 | Virtual Program using Zoom
Worldwide, population pressures contribute to immediate dangers like food insecurity, natural resource scarcity, inequality, and climate-changing emissions. Yet, the relationship between population and climate change is complex. Although the carbon footprints of most of the world’s population are negligible relative to that of the average American or European, low- and middle-income countries are disproportionately vulnerable to climate impacts like rising sea-levels and extreme weather events. Additionally, the close relationship between high fertility and poverty throughout the world worsens climate vulnerability and puts more people at risk. This presentation uses a climate justice framework to explore the ways in which demographic trends impact and are impacted by climate change and argues that gender equality must be better integrated into global climate solutions. The talk will conclude with a discussion on the ways in which expanding access to health care and education—especially for women, girls, and reproductively capable people—act as necessary building blocks for climate adaptation and resilience across the globe. Our guest speaker, Hannah Evans, Senior Analyst, Population Connection, will help us understand how these factors interplay.

Hannah works as a Senior Analyst at Population Connection, where she focuses on public speaking and the development of open-source, academic-style resources. She also cultivates partnerships between Population Connection and international NGOs. Before joining Population Connection’s staff, Hannah worked as an adjunct professor of Women’s Studies and taught classes on gender, science, and feminist theory. She has non-profit experience working as a program developer for sustainable agriculture and public health programs in Honduras and Panama and has worked as a researcher studying food security issues throughout Southern California. Hannah holds a BA in Environmental Policy and Natural Resource Conservation and Political Science and a Master’s in Political Ecology from San Diego State University, where her research focused on sustainability labeling and ethical consumption between the United States and Nicaragua.

This program will be presented via a Zoom session. You do not need a Zoom account to “attend” this virtual meeting. If you would like to be a participant in the meeting, please use our contact us form to make your request.

Some Ethical Considerations Concerning Abortion and the Development of Human Consciousness
2024-04-07 13:30 - 15:30 | Extraordinary Ventures, 200 S. Elliott Rd, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
Most biology students have heard the phrase “ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny.” Put simply, this means that the stages of development of a fertilized human egg into a newborn baby (ontogeny) can, to some extent, superficially resemble the evolution of humans from primitive single celled microorganisms (phylogeny). Regardless of the scientific validity of that statement, we can ask at what stage of human development, either ontogeny or phylogeny, does conscious awareness and “personhood” occur? Fred Breidt will lead a discussion about human consciousness and how fetal brain development may help inform ethical considerations about abortion, in vitro fertilization, and the difference between being alive and being a person.
This meeting is a Zoom “hybrid” meeting. We will meet at our regular venue, Extraordinary Ventures, where the program will take place. We will also Zoom the program. If you wish to attend via Zoom, please use our contact form to make the request.

Opening the Door for Democracy with YVote (Why Vote)
2024-03-31 11:00 - 12:30 | Virtual Program using Zoom
We will join the morning program sponsored by our national organization, the American Ethical Union. Sanda Baladan, co-founder of YVote, and Audrey Kindred, of the New York Society for Ethical Culture will present on how they collaborate to bring Voter and civic engagement activities to hundreds of youth in ongoing democracy reinforcing programs. They will show how other Ethical Societies can do similar civics / voter actions. The program will include youth who will tell of their concerns and how YVote has prepared them for action and leadership.
Registration for this program is required. Here’s the registration link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUrd–tqjgoG93G86nOUfIyfo9mJFyJqfB3#/registration

CROP Walk and Discussion
2024-03-24 13:30 - 15:30 | Extraordinary Ventures, 200 S. Elliott Rd, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
We will have two different programs. Some will participate in the local CROP Walk, and others will gather at our usual venue to discuss current events. The CROP Walk is our ethical action activity for this quarter. It is a walk to raise money to fight hunger both locally and internationally. If you would like to donate to this fundraiser, please visit our team page, and make a donation; all funds raised will go to fight hunger: https://events.crophungerwalk.org/cropwalks/team/ethical-humanist-society-of-the-triangle?utm_medium=email&utm_source=transactional&utm_campaign=2024-crop-hunger-walk.

Neither of these two programs will be Zoomed. We hope you can join us for a future program.

A Proposal for EHST Ethical Action
2024-03-17 13:30 - 15:30 | Extraordinary Ventures, 200 S. Elliott Rd, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
The EHST Ethical Action Committee is pleased to present a proposal concerning ethical action in 2024. This initiative serves as an interactive forum, inviting stakeholders to engage and provide input. Upon the program’s completion, a brief survey will be disseminated among society’s members, allowing individuals to cast their votes and provide constructive feedback.
This meeting is a Zoom “hybrid” meeting. We will meet at our regular venue, Extraordinary Ventures, where the program will take place. We will also Zoom the program. If you wish to attend via Zoom, please use our contact form to make the request.

Discussion Sunday: Being An Ally, and From Stories to Action
2024-03-10 13:30 - 15:30 | Virtual Program using Zoom
We will watch two brief Ted Talks, and then discuss our reactions to them. The first is about being an ally to those face injustice (https://www.ted.com/talks/dwinita_mosby_tyler_want_a_more_just_world_be_an_unlikely_ally) and the second is about how stories can play an important role in motivating people to take action (https://www.ted.com/talks/sisonke_msimang_if_a_story_moves_you_act_on_it) rather than just enjoying an emotional story.

This program will be presented via a Zoom session. You do not need a Zoom account to “attend” this virtual meeting. If you would like to be a participant in the meeting, please use our contact us form to make your request. (Check your tabs to see the form.)
