by
Emil Volcheck, BES President, BaltimoreCOR coordinator
Three
years ago this month, the Baltimore Coalition of Reason (Baltimore
CoR) formed. What started with three groups has since grown to a
coalition of nine humanist and atheist organizations. The CoR got off
to a strong start – with a lecture by Greg Epstein speaking about
his book Good
Without God – that
drew an audience of nearly 200 at First Unitarian thanks to the
electronic billboard advertisement at Ravens Stadium funded by the
United Coalition of Reason.
Looking
back over the past year, Baltimore CoR has kept a pace of events that
has exceeded my expectations. The highlight of the year for many of
us was attending the Reason Rally, which brought to the National Mall
an estimated 20,000 humanists and atheists and employed several of us
as volunteer VIP ushers. Since September 2011, the CoR has organized
or co-sponsored a diverse range of events, including:
a
“Parenting Beyond Belief” workshop by Dale McGowan;
a
lecture on religious fundamentalism by Professor Bjorn Krondorfer;
a
lecture by Sean Faircloth on his book Attack
of the Theocrats;
the
second annual celebration of HumanLight in Baltimore;
a
lecture on LGBT rights in Uganda by Reverend Kiyimba;
two
lectures marking Darwin Day;
a
concert by singer and political satirist Roy Zimmerman;
a
celebration of World Humanist Day that featured a documentary about
the impact of religious millennialism on U.S. foreign policy,
followed by a counterpoint Humanist view of the future provided by
astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson; and
Skepticamp
DC 2012.
Catherine
Blackwell, past president of the UMBC Secular Student Alliance,
represented Baltimore CoR on the TV debate show “Square Off with
Richard Sher.” Baltimore CoR also helped launch the LGBTQ Humanist
Council of Baltimore, the newest chapter of the American Humanist
Association in the city. The events of the CoR serve to build and
strengthen a greater humanist community in Baltimore. For a young and
loosely knit coalition, this is an impressive record of activity.
Last
March, it was my privilege to address an audience of over seven
hundred at Ignite Baltimore #10 on the theme of this essay. Baltimore
CoR is a publicity coalition whose purpose is to raise public
awareness that people can be good without believing in God. For those
of us who are fortunate enough to have found a home in Ethical
Culture (or any member of Baltimore CoR), this message might seem
obvious, or a distraction from our primary focus. But we must not
forget there are those less fortunate who suffer hardship as a result
of their beliefs. Army Reserve Captain Ryan Jean was rated
“spiritually deficient” by an Army psychological fitness test and
berated by an Army chaplain who told him he should resign his
commission if he did not believe in God. (Listen to the podcast of
his platform address
at bmorethical.org/for-country-sans-god-humanism-and-religious-hegemony-in-the-military.)
Jessica Ahlquist, a high-school student in Cranston, Rhode Island,
faced threats of bodily harm that required police to protect her at
school. Ahlquist received a 2012 Humanist Pioneer Award from the
American Humanist Association. Also receiving the Pioneer Award was
Damon Fowler, a high school student in Louisiana who was disowned by
his family and shunned by his classmates after he objected to a
unconstitutional graduation prayer. Misunderstanding and
discrimination can indirectly impact atheists and humanists causing
them to self-censor their views. A member of our society revealed to
me that when they recently began a search for a new job, they deleted
a profile on a popular social networking website that listed them as
atheist so that this fact would not be seen by potential employers.
I
am proud that the Baltimore Ethical Society has played a vital role
in supporting the Baltimore Coalition of Reason through the volunteer
work of our members and the use of our facilities. The message of
Ethical Culture – “Deed Before Creed” – means that we believe
it is what we do that matters, not what religious beliefs we hold. We
have an ethical duty to stand up against discrimination based on
religious beliefs or nonbeliefs because this diminishes the dignity
of our friends and family. Whether this discrimination affects
employment opportunities – or marriage rights – it’s unethical,
and the Baltimore Ethical Society stands against it.
I
hope that you will help build the greater humanist community in
Baltimore by supporting the message of Baltimore CoR and
participating in some of the upcoming events of the coalition,
including lecture and lunch with Herb Silverman on November 11th and
HumanLight on December 23rd at BES. Please watch for the
announcements of Darwin Day in February and World Humanist Day on
June 21st.
(Baltimore
Secular Humanists, the Baltimore chapter of WASH, was a founding member of the BaltimoreCOR, and cosponsored these events. More past BSH events are listed here.)
