February Program: Spirituality and Religion

On Sunday we gathered at the Leibowitz apartment for a program on Spirituality and Religion. I gave the talk since a couple of people who expected to speak were unfortunately under the weather. In my talk, I shared about my Jewish upbringing and how I broke away from it, declaring myself an atheist at the age of 12. I outlined my later explorations into various religious traditions and practices, a study of dreams, and so on, before finding a spiritual home at Ethical Culture.

Now that we have moved on from Ethical Culture and are forming our own Brooklyn Humanist Community, soon to be on the road to incorporation as a nonprofit, I don't feel the need for a religious community anymore. I prefer a community of people who are dedicating themselves to living an ethical life, without calling it a religion. My spiritual feelings still come from dreams, music, and from being with a group of like-minded people especially when we get together to accomplish some social action.

Ruth, Antoinette and Selma shared some of their religious history and spiritual views. We had a good talk and I hope that we'll continue this line of discussion at a later time.