Platform
Meetings – 2008
December 21
Winter Solstice Celebration
December 7
Randy Best, Leader
My Wake Up Call
September 21
Martha Gallahue
A Report from the United Nations
September 7
John and Marge Holmgren
A Report on the 2008 AEU Lay Leadership Summer School
August 17
Rep. Paul Luebke, North Carolina District 30 (Durham)
North Carolina: Stop Torture Now
Platform Overview: Can the Tarheel State become the first in the nation to
outlaw torture and extreme rendition by making it a felony offense to commit
such crimes in the State of North Carolina? Rep. Luebke is the primary sponsor
of House Bill 2417 which would do just this.
See also NCSEC Resolution: Stop Torture in North Carolina
August 3
Alex Hitt, Owner, Peregrine Farms
Sustainable Agriculture in the Piedmont
July 20
Chris Moran, Executive Director, Interfaith Council for Social Service (IFC)
New Initiatives at the IFC
July 6
Jan Broughton, Hugh Giblin
Review of AEU, & AHA Assemblies
June 15
Lyle Estill
Biofuels
June 1
Bill Green
An Ethical Violation (Ethics in Journalism)
May 25
Scott Waybright, Chris Kaman
Technology Workshop for NCSEC
Note: This meeting will be at Caribou Coffee at Franklin St. and Estes Drive
in Chapel Hill. The Arts Center will not be available for this meeting.
May 18
Speaker: tba
NCSEC Recognition Day
May 4
Prof. Elin O'Hara Slavick, Professor of Art, UNC at Chapel Hill, Artist
Art & Activism
April 20
Hugh Giblin, Paul Piersma
Socially Responsible Investing (SRI)
SRI Bibliography
April 6
Blair Pollock
Recycling
March 30
Clark Jones, Musician, Poet
Ethics & Music
March 23
Rev. Hoyle
The 7 Deadly Sins
March 16
Randy Best, Leader of North Carolina Society for Ethical Culture
Topic: tba
March 2
Prof. Sarah Shields, Ph.D. History at UNC Chapel Hill
War and Poverty Topic
February 17
Dr. David Pfennig, Professor of Biology at UNC Chapel Hill
Evolution: How It Works and Why It's Important
Platform Overview: Evolution is as much a scientific fact
as the germ theory and the atomic theory. Moreover, it unifies
all of the life sciences. Yet, many people, including even
some educators and policy makers, have only a dim understanding
of how evolution works. In this talk, we will explore what
evolution is, how it works, why it is misunderstood, and why
it is important to understand. As we will see, an appreciation
of evolution can be critical in our everyday lives.
February 3
Kate Lovelady, Leader of Ethical Society of St. Louis
Ethical Sex
Platform Overview: America has a difficult relationship with
sex. On the one hand, sexualized images are everywhere and
are an important fuel for our desire-based economy; more-conservative
countries complain that our images and attitudes are corrupting
their cultures. On the other hand, many politicians, preachers,
and educators build careers on trying to convince Americans — particularly
American youth — to re-embrace our Puritan past; more
liberal countries find our sexual attitudes and policies to
be unscientific and even dangerous. Personally and as citizens,
we all make decisions about sex: who should have it, when,
how, with whom, under what circumstances. Ethical decisions
need to be conscious and informed; therefore we need to start
with some fundamental questions: What is sex for? What is "good" and "bad" sex
in an ethical sense? Where do people's assumptions about sex
come from? To what extent is the issue of sex in America not
really about sex at all, but about other things: power; idealizations
of childhood; assumptions about women's and men's roles, about
sexuality and orientation, about families? What are the hidden
beliefs and agendas behind much of today's "sexuality
police"?
"When authorities warn you of the sinfulness of sex,
there is an important lesson to be learned. Do not have sex
with the authorities." — Matt Groening
January 20
Jan Broughton, President, NC Society for Ethical Culture
Annual Meeting of Members
January 13
Ed Brown, PhD Chemistry
Drug Laws
January 6
Installation of Randy Best as Leader of the North Carolina Society for Ethical
Culture
