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Daniel Arendt

In Furtherance Of Ethical Culturalism.

  • Just as there is no single social Darwinian unifier, other than the term itself, there need be no one particular spirituality or group of them geared to peaceful eternal progress. 

    I see through the Bible that I may adequately express my concurrence with God through advocating “Ethical Culture”, a movement dedicated to the ethical improvement of both societies and individuals, founded in 1876 by Felix Adler and a group of Jewish supporters. He was son of Rabbi Samuel Adler of NYC Temple Emanu-el; his movement consisted of devoted belief in the inviolability and power of the moral law and the duty to apply it to problems of industrialization, urbanization, and the working poor. He trained even Christians to start Ethical Culture societies in large USA cities…it spread worldwide, and became the International Ethical Union; in 1952, humanists joined their groups to it and became the International Humanist and Ethical Union.
     
    No symbols or rituals are required, although leaders officiate at life cycle events like marriages and funerals; they come from a variety of social and intellectual backgrounds and may have previous religious affiliations. No established Ethical Culture ideology exists, other than motto “Not the creed, but the deed”. Members may believe what they want on all issues, including religion, but must accept the ideals: each human life has an intrinsic worth, seeking ethical principles as a guide to all aspects of life is of prime importance, and there is always need for social ethics to work for the material and spiritual betterment of society and humanity.
     
    As a believer in the Old and New Testaments and the gist of things God breathed through them, I ceaselessly practice Ethical Culturalism to my best ability as my Christian reaction to Divine causation; this ranges from professional political and commerce group participation to human rights work to disaster relief participation or even helping up and getting aid for a child others would walk past, or edifying others…all never with an eye to one’s gender, beliefs, ethnicity, race, or origin, or ability to “pay me back”…only logical best lawful aid possible.
     
    ULC Monastery being a legally recognized religious society capable of lawfully ordaining clergy, and having a valid orthopraxy so similar to Ethical Culture, I believe the divine brought it about that I be ordained by ULC in part to share with others also seeking to do peaceful good.
     
    Some say Ethical Culturalism no longer is the powerhouse it used to be, but my faith in Almighty God is far greater than it could ever be in anyone asking me to look the other way (upon pain or for profit, or worse…by being baited into gossip or by being manipulated) just because one should do what advances one in the absence of an unseen God. After all, if just appearing unseen is all it took to not exist, how could anyone even be scammed by phishers or traditional con rings or even a lousy roofer  if schemers don’t exist around you because you haven’t seen them…yet?
     
    For such reasoning, I continue to press on in pursuit of any proofs where social Darwinians claim any society at all can evolve without need of even a Linnaeus-like physically observable and recordable set of necessaries beyond echo-chamber opinion.  
2 comments
  • Jeff Austin
    Jeff Austin Very informative and educational message. Thank you.

    Blessings and blessed be
    Rev Jeff
    February 6, 2010
  • Daniel Arendt
    Daniel Arendt Thank you for your kind words, Rev Jeff; this is about the last blog item I foreseeably will post on the philosophy of doing right things, for a while. It's not to impress MINISTERS, or everyday people; like I said in an A. Claire Philips poll today, we a...  more
    February 6, 2010