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I first heard of the Ethical Culture Society when reading New York Times obituaries. I've always done this, because I think a well-written obit is like a full short story of a person's life. In the 1980s, sadly, there were so many obits for gay men who died of AIDS, and this is where I saw so many where the memorial service would be at the Ethical Culture Society. I found there is a branch in Cambridge, Mass., and went to a newcomer's meeting and a couple of platforms (what they call what would be called a Sunday service).
It is explicitly *not* about a god idea. It is about ethics and living a good life. The Cambridge group holds its meetings at a school for music (Longy) so they have beautiful music in a perfect acoustical hall.
The time I went, the founder was there- a local black woman close to 100 years old.
My observation was that there were a lot of extreme old Jewish people (I mean walkers and oxygen tanks) who seemed to be the pillars of the group. The younger people were all types of backgrounds, but at the newcomer's group, the few other people had extreme religious backgrounds and were hurting a lot from them.
I'd like to be involved with this group at some point. My only issue is that I work third shift five nights a week and their meeting is at 10:30 in the morning. The book clubs and other things seem to be further into town (Brookline, a very Jewish urbane neighborhood). I won't be doing these meetings and driving so much as long as I'm working five nights a week.
But they seem to be a group I could get involved with. I like the Jewish flavor without the god. I like the ethical approach and have wanted to find a group where I could feel part of standing with and for positive ethical things (and don't go with the Quakers, also in Cambridge, because they have god).
I have also wanted to look into the Unitarian group in Concord, Mass. (not my local one, that seems very dominated by one very nice old couple and is very family oriented, which I'm not) but the one in Concord is much bigger, an older congregation (and one of the oldest in the country- I think only the one in Cambridge at Harvard is older) and is more intellectual, and has some earth-centered focus and Buddhism.
What, if anything, do people do to be involved in a group that is on the right side of the ethical law without god?
I wish this existed where I am -- I've looked into it, but alas. I've read the Felix Adler book from which the movement got their name (An Ethical Culture, which is free from Project Gutenburg FWIW), and it's a worthwhile read.