ChiCago EthiCal humanist Newsletter of the Ethical humanist sociEty of chicago

FEbruary 2016

Welcome to Our Sunday Morning Programs in February GAIL PRINS, professor of physiology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, speaks Sunday, February 7th, on “How Safe Is ‘Safe’? Disease Risk of Environmental Exposure to Hor-mone Disrupting Chemicals.” Prins will discuss how common environmen-tal contaminants can increase disease

risk. Using the example of Bisphenol A, she will show how brief exposure to low doses of endocrine disrupting chemi-cals in everyday products can modify embryonic stem cells as they form the prostate gland, increasing the likelihood of adult tissue to develop prostate cancer.

SALLY MERRELL, distinguished Wisconsin estate and trust lawyer, speaks Sunday, February 14th, on “Planning for Your Legacy: What Does that Mean?” Going beyond the aspects in one’s will, Merrell will discuss the notion of legacy and especially our role in preserving, pro-tecting, and enhancing what we leave behind when we die.

LISA BARNES, Associate Professor and Cognitive Neuropsychologist at Rush University Medical Center, speaks Sunday, February 21st, on “Risk Fac-tors for Alzheimer’s Disease in African Americans.” Barnes will discuss the epidemiology of Alzheimer’s, with an emphasis on the greater risks to older African Americans than to other Ameri-

cans. She will discuss the environmental and biological causes of the disease, which progressively destroys memory and other vital mental functions, and pinpoint strategies for its prevention and treatment.

JAMIE KALVEN, writer and execu-tive director of the Invisible Institute, speaks, Sunday, February 28th, on “A New Era of Police Reform.” The plaintiff in the lawsuit that forced the release of the Laquan McDonald police shooting video, Kalven has reported extensively on police misconduct and abuse in Chicago. He will discuss the possibilities of fundamental and enduring reforms.

• Our next Ethical Humanities discussion, led by member Dick Whitaker, is on Sunday, February 7th, at 12:15 p.m. We’ll discuss The Little Book of Atheist Spirituality, by contemporary French philosopher and atheist André Comte-Sponville. Come and find out whether atheist spirituality is an oxymoron. The book is available at libraries and in paperback. • Our popular Film Discussion group, led this month by Mike Rush, meets on Monday, February 8th, at 7:15 p.m. We’ve selected two great, uplifting films. The Revenant is a brutal, allegorical portrayal of an 1820s frontiersman’s survival after a bear attack. It was directed by Alejandro In-arritu and stars Leonardo DiCaprio. Hail, Caesar! is a satiri-cal comedy of the 1950s “Golden Age” Hollywood movie industry. It was directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, with an ar-ray of stars, including Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Ralph Fiennes, Jonah Hil, Scarlet Johansson, Hilda Swinton, and Channing Tatum.

• Our Second Saturday Coffeehouse, led by Vicki Elber-feld, resumes on February 13th. Unlike the usual musical program, we’ll feature historical dramatist and Equity actor R. J. Lindsey in an impersonation of Charles Darwin that chronicles his famous 5-year voyage to the natural world of the Galapagos Islands. A party celebrating Darwin’s birthday will follow. A suggested donation of $8 includes refreshments.• Our Annual Winter Fun Night is on Saturday, February 20th, starting at 5 p.m. Join us for delicious potluck food, friendly conversation, and unplugged games for all ages.

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Coming Society Events

The meetinghouse of the Society is at 7574 N. Lincoln Ave., Skokie. Sunday programs start at 10:30 a.m. A social hour fol-lows. For parking, use our lot, spaces at the adjoining store, How-ard St. or Jerome St., or the lot at the Albany Bank. If you need transportation, call the office by 1 p.m., Friday—we’ll try to get a ride for you.

Please bring a dish to share—an entrée, appetizer, bread, salad, or dessert. For what to bring and how to help, please contact Katie Wokosin or Ed Thompson. • Our Creative Writers group, led by Sue Sherman, meets on Sunday, February 21st, at 12:15 p.m. Newcomers are welcome to share their short original stories, poems, mem-oirs, or essays. It’s a friendly, helpful way to test your skills!• Our next Fiction Circle book, for Sunday, March 5th, is Elizabeth Strout’s The Burgess Boy, a story of family ri-valry, of “doing well” versus “doing good,” and of cultural displacement and “hate crime.” It’s soon to be an HBO miniseries, as was Strout’s Olive Kitteridge, which we read a few years back. The book is available in libraries and used book stores; see Ken Novak to borrow an audio version.

Recent Sunday Programs• Adam Selzer, local historian and proprietor of Mysteri-ous Chicago Tours, spoke January 3rd on “Devil in the White City: Myth and Mystery of H.H. Holmes.” John Ungashick was moderator.

Selzer discussed his extensive and difficult research into the life of serial killer H.H. Holmes, a notorious swindler, bigamist, and “pathological liar” from the 1890s. Describ-ing as “haphazard” the police investigation and eventual unearthing of Holmes’ many murder victims, he recounted the killer’s subsequent conviction, execution, and burial.

Selzer noted that the murder site was in the so-called “Castle,” a building in Englewood that now houses a Post Office. He added that the headline-grabbing Holmes story was depicted in The Devil in the White City, a book that intertwined it with that of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition.

• Kimberly Veal, president of People of Color Beyond Faith, spoke January 10th on “Supporting Minority Freethinkers.” Anil Kashyap was moderator.

“I was raised in the church,” Veal began, but “the Bible didn’t make sense to me” and “God never answered my questions.” As a non-believer growing up in a family of ministers, “I was called eccentric,” she said, but “I enjoyed the fellowship and social aspect” of the church and appreci-ated its “outreach to the community.”

Veal said that humanists need “to go beyond rhetoric” and, like the churches, work to meet the needs of the Black and minority communities in their struggle for jobs, hous-ing, and better schools. She said “people are hurting” and called on humanists “to march with us” and work together “to challenge white privilege.” She pointed to charities like the Chicago Food Depository and praised the social justice and Black Lives Matter movements.

• Eric Oliver, professor of political science at the Uni-versity of Chicago, spoke January 17th on “Enchanted

Americans.” Mignon de Klerk was moderator.Oliver decried the widespread belief by Americans in

conspiracy theories, in angels and ghosts, and even in reincarnation. Such ”magical thinking,” he said, “serves our emotional needs” and “is fed by uncertainty.” Belief in a supernatural force “makes people feel better and more secure” in their search for causality, although some of us are more open to cognitive reasoning, he added.

Oliver showed line graphs depicting the results of sur-veys that differentiated between liberals, moderates, and conservatives, religious fundamentalists and non-funda-mentalists, and Democrats, independents, and Republicans. He pointed to the widespread use of metaphors, especially in politics. He conceded that some magical thinking may be due to mental illness. Calling on us to “acknowledge people’s feelings,” he noted the need for “reasonable politi-cal discourse” during the Presidential election campaign.

• Andrew Hartman, Associate Professor of History at Illinois State University, spoke January 24th on “The History of the Culture Wars: A War for the Soul of America.” Alan Kimmel was moderator.

A former Fulbright scholar, Hartman said the U.S. culture wars of the mid-19th Century focused on how we teach history and on social issues such as abortion, affirmative action, feminism, art, and censorship. He said they were a debate over “what it means to be an American.” Calling the 1960s “the most divisive period in U.S. history since the Civil War,” he said they undercut the “normative American ideals” of hard work, individual merit, personal responsi-bility, social mobility, and strict sexual mores.

Hartman said that value was given to conformity, in part because it reinforced the idea of American exceptionalism, used by politicians today as in the slogan “Make America Great Again.” He noted, too, that the culture wars also sur-faced in debates over school curricula, evolution, and the planned Smithsonian exhibit of the Enola Gay bomber that would have questioned the morality of dropping a-bombs on Japan at the end of World War II.

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Who We Are

The Ethical Humanist Society of Chicago is a self-governing, inclusive, caring community—providing a home to those who seek a rational, compassionate philosophy of life without regard to belief or non-belief in a supreme being.We focus on the ethical values that bring people together, not

on the beliefs that keep people apart. In the spirit of intellectual, philosophical, and artistic freedom, we come together to explore life, nature, and the universe.Like traditional religious communities, we celebrate births,

conduct wedding ceremonies, and host memorial services. We provide for the ethical education of our children, based on ratio-nal, critical thinking. We believe in working together for a better world, and strive to

act so as to bring out the best in others and thereby in ourselves.

Activities and Announcements• Our next Ethnic Dinner Out is on Saturday, February 6th, 6:30 p.m., at King Pho, 5414 Devon Ave., in Edge-brook. Join us again for lively conversation and great Chinese and Vietnamese food. It’s also BYOB. Limited free parking is in the rear. There’s still time to reserve your space at a table. Contact Mike Rush at ehsdinners@gmail.com.• Random Acts of Flowers, a non-profit Evanston orga-nization that reconstructs and recycles floral bouquets for folks in healthcare and senior citizen facilities, needs our help on Monday, February 15th, 12:30–3:30 p.m. Vol-unteers for this Ethical Action project can sign up on our hallway bulletin board, or contact Sue Walton at 847-475-0391 or sns@swwalton.com. We’re also collecting flower vases, which can be brought to the Society by February 14th. Thanks!• The Night Ministry’s Health Outreach Bus, helped by volunteers from our Ethical Action Committee and coor-dinated by Marne Glaser, is serving a streetside supper for homeless people in Uptown on Wednesday, February 3rd.• The Interfaith Action of Evanston, of which we are a member, has its annual Vision Keepers fundraising dinner on Sunday, February 21st. The money raised is for a home-less shelter, soup kitchens, and winter warming centers. This year our Ethical Action Committee has chosen to hon-or Sue and Scott Walton for their many years of activity in the Ethical movement and in the Evanston community. Our past honorees have been Alan Kimmel, Ken Novak, and Jo-Ann and Tom Hoeppner. To sign up for our table at this $75 gala event, please contact Jan Kuhn or Marilee Cole.• Our next Soup Kitchen is on Sunday, March 6th, 1–4:30 p.m., at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, in Evanston. Contact Marilee Cole at marileesgarden@comcast.net to volunteer or use the signup sheet outside our kitchen. Please join us in helping many of our needy neighbors. • A Board Nominating Committee has been named for the election at the Society’s June 7th Annual Membership Meeting. Members are Ray Berg, Alan Kimmel, Marilee Cole, Mike Rush, and Katie Wokosin.• Historical records of the Society dating back to 1882 are available to the public at the University of Illinois at Chicago. We donated them to the UIC library over 30 years ago. Items in the collection include minutes, correspon-dence, membership lists, speeches, photos, and newspaper clippings. For more information, see the library’s website at http://findingaids.library.uic.edu/ead/rjd1/EHSCf.html.

• The American Ethical Union has created a Visiting Leaders Bureau, which lists the availability and varied topic specialties of Ethical Society Leaders around the country. A special fund helps to subsidize their visits to other Societies, including speaking fees and travel. • A warm welcome to our many visitors! Do you like the excellence and wide variety of our Sunday morning programs? Our many activities and interest groups? The chance to be with other like-minded people? Most impor-tant, are we the caring, nonsectarian congregation you’ve been looking for? Come to our monthly Newcomers Chat to find out more about us and consider becoming a member of the Society. If you have any questions, or would like infor-mation on the chats, just email joinus@ethicalhuman.org.• Getting married? Naming your baby? Having a memorial service? Our Ethical Officiants, trained by the American Ethical Union to perform weddings, baby namings, and memorial services, are Matt Cole, .Jo-Ann Hoeppner, Tom Hoeppner, Katie Merrell, and Ken Novak. For a caring, secular ceremony, inquire at our office.• Our Tribute Fund is a way of honoring each other—like condolences on losing a loved one and congratulations on a birth, wedding, or personal achievement. Each tribute is printed in the newsletter and a card is sent to the honoree. Forms are on the literature tables.

Sunday School Scoop . . . We were extraordinarily productive throughout the

month of January with Ethical Action projects galore. We tracked our progress on a 30 Days of Kindness Challenge and added to it with projects ranging from Linus Blankets and Valentine’s cards to catnip socks for cat shelters and birdseed feeders. We also found time to calm our minds as we explored Buddhism and practiced meditation.

We will begin February by ringing in the Chinese New Year before delving into Judaism and Christianity as we continue our study of World Religions. We’re looking for-ward to celebrating Valentine’s Day and, at the end of the month, hosting our annual Volunteer Appreciation breakfast to honor EHS Volunteers, Committee Chairs, and Trustees.

—Katherine Ross, Director

Tribute Fund• We celebrate the life and friendship of Claire Zerkin and mourn her passing, though we know that her warm smile and joy of life will always be with us. —from Jo-Ann and Tom Hoeppner

The Ethical Humanist Society of Chicago, founded in 1882, is a member of the American Ethical Union and a chapter of the American Humanist Association.Officers & Trustees: Ed McManus, President; Jan Kuhn, Vice

President; Ray Berg, Secretary; John Ungashick, Treasurer; Steve Julstrom, Alan Kimmel, Katherine Ross, Ed Thompson, Sue Sherman.Sunday School Director: Katherine RossYES Advisors: Lisa Crowe, Sharon Appelquist Office Administrator: Sharon AppelquistNewsletter Editor: Alan Kimmel Ethical Officiants: Jo-Ann Hoeppner, Tom Hoeppner, Katie Merrell, Ken Novak

Ethical Humanist Society of Chicago

7574 N. Lincoln Avenue, Skokie, IL 60077-3335Phone: (847) 677-3334; Fax: (847) 677-3335Web Site: www.ethicalhuman.orgE-mail: office@ethicalhuman.org

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FEBRUARY 2016 CALENDARThe office of the Society is openevery weekday - 10 am to 2 pm.

Call 847-677-3334 with any questions.

10:30 SAlly Merrell “Planning for Your Legacy: What Does that Mean?”

10:30 GAil PrinS

“How Safe Is ‘Safe’? Disease Risk of Environmental Exposure to Hormone Disrupting Chemicals”12:15 - Ethical Humanities: The Little Book of Atheist Spirituality

10:30 liSA BArneS

“Risk Factors for Alzheimer’s Disease in African Americans”12:15 - Creative Writers

10:30 JAMie KAlven

“A New Era of Police Reform”

SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY

FilM DiScuSSion GrouP

7:15 p.m.

BoArD oF TruSTeeS

7:15 p.m.

2nD SATurDAy coFFeehouSe 8 p.m.

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Golden Rule Sunday School: Sundays, 10:30 a.m. to Noon

Sundays next month: Mar. 6: Blair Brettschneider; Mar. 13: Sean Masterson

WinTer Fun niGhT

5 p.m.