Blog

Posted on

SHoWLE Opposes Senate Bill 49: The Religious Expression Days “R.E.D.” Act.

This ses­sion, the Ohio Senate intro­duced Senate Bill 49 also known as The Religious Expression Days “R.E.D.” Act. If passed it would give reli­gious stu­dents in pub­lic schools three days off each year for reli­gious rea­sons. SHoWLE oppos­es this bill for the main rea­son is it gives spe­cial priv­i­leges to reli­gious stu­dents. We also don’t believe a law is need­ed since many school dis­tricts cur­rent­ly make accom­mo­da­tions for reli­gious obser­vances.

SHoWLE President Douglas Berger sub­mit­ted writ­ten tes­ti­mo­ny to the Ohio Senate Education com­mit­tee. Here is the text of his remarks:

Continue read­ing “SHoWLE Opposes Senate Bill 49: The Religious Expression Days “R.E.D.” Act.”
Posted on

Glass City Humanist Coming To Toledo Radio

Glass City Humanist cover art next to WAKT logo

We are pleased to announce that start­ing soon, the Glass City Humanist pod­cast, an out­reach of Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie, will be mak­ing a 1 hour month­ly pro­gram that will be heard on WAKT 106.1 FM in Toledo and on the Internet.

We Act Radio is a com­mu­ni­ty radio sta­tion giv­ing the res­i­dents of Toledo a way to know each oth­er through music, talk, and oth­er forms of pro­gram­ming. The con­tent is gen­er­at­ed by the com­mu­ni­ty and by request of the com­mu­ni­ty. It pro­vides a voice for com­mu­ni­ties that may not have a voice in the media.

Glass City Humanist, pro­duced and host­ed by SHoWLE President Douglas Berger, will use the time on WAKT to intro­duce Humanism and the group to a big­ger audi­ence in Toledo and by exten­tion lis­ten­ers to the radio web­site. The exact con­tent won’t dif­fer too much from the con­tent heard on the pod­cast but GCH will be able to do dif­fer­ent things that might not be pos­si­ble with just the pod­cast.

“We plan on doing things like ask­ing for lis­ten­er ques­tions that will be read in the next episode,” the host Douglas Berger said. “We will also be able to inter­view peo­ple in a prop­er stu­dio instead of just on Zoom or my house.”

There also might be chance at some future point to do a live show.

Details are still being final­ized and we will let every­one know when the shows will start air­ing.

For more infor­ma­tion about Glass City Humanist vis­it https://glasscityhumanist.show and for more infor­ma­tion about We Act Radio WAKT 106.1 check out https://toledoradio.org

Posted on

Remember SHoWLE on GivingTuesday

Showing logo for GivingTuesdayNWO
Douglas Berger — President of the Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie

Hello, I’m Doug Berger, founder and President of the Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie. I want to remind you that Giving Tuesday is on November 29th and we would like to be your choice for your giv­ing this year.

SHoWLE is the only active group in Northwest Ohio that is a demo­c­ra­t­ic mem­ber run group pro­vid­ing a sup­port­ive — diverse — safe space for human­ists and the non-religious. Our goal is Building Community Through Compassion & Reason For A Better Tomorrow.

We know peo­ple are lim­it­ed in how many groups you can sup­port, we know that under our cur­rent eco­nom­ic cli­mate lots of peo­ple are either strug­gling or have had to cut back. I hope we make the cut for your tax deductible dona­tions this GivingTuesday.

The sim­ple fact is there is no orga­nized effort, in Northwest Ohio, to help sup­port the non-religious. We rep­re­sent about 20% of the pop­u­la­tion in gen­er­al. Humanists and the non-religious don’t have the mil­lions of dol­lars or hun­dreds of vol­un­teers that reli­gious church­es and groups have even as they beg for your dol­lars each year.

SHoWLE sup­ports real reli­gious free­dom like strong sep­a­ra­tion of church and state. We don’t think that pub­lic laws and poli­cies should be based on one par­tic­u­lar reli­gious view.

SHoWLE believes Humanism is a pro­gres­sive phi­los­o­phy of life that, with­out the­ism or oth­er super­nat­ur­al beliefs, affirms our abil­i­ty and respon­si­bil­i­ty to lead eth­i­cal lives of per­son­al ful­fill­ment that aspire to the greater good of human­i­ty.

We affirm the dig­ni­ty of every human being and asserts that human­i­ty is respon­si­ble for its own des­tiny, hav­ing with­in itself all that is need­ed to improve the con­di­tions of life.

I hope you will donate to us this year and when you can at oth­er points of the year. If you are inter­est­ed in our group check out one of our meet­ings or even join.

Help us cre­ate a com­mu­ni­ty that sup­ports rea­son, sci­ence, and equal­i­ty. Help us build a com­mu­ni­ty through com­pas­sion & rea­son for a bet­ter tomor­row.

Posted on

SHoWLE Bans Weapons At Meetings

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 21, 2022

Toledo, Ohio — The Board of Directors of the Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie (SHoWLE) vot­ed to ban weapons from all meet­ings and events it hosts.

The res­o­lu­tion reads in part: “We wish to pro­vide a safe space where, for a short time, peo­ple don’t have to wor­ry about being shot or killed by a dead­ly weapon. Even if the venue where we hold our meet­ings and events allow weapons, SHoWLE will enforce a ban on weapons. We will also try not to use any venue for meet­ings or events that we know allow weapons. People who believe their right to car­ry a gun out­weighs the safe­ty of our com­mu­ni­ty are not wel­come at our meet­ings or events.”

The weapons ban fits in with the group’s human­ist val­ues.

“This ban aligns with our val­ues of peace and social jus­tice, empa­thy, and ser­vice and par­tic­i­pa­tion,” Douglas Berger, President of SHoWLE said. “We have been con­cerned, for some­time, about the inac­tion of the Ohio leg­is­la­ture to address gun vio­lence and how some polit­i­cal lead­ers wild west ideas of the rugged indi­vid­ual strut­ting down the street pack­ing heat is out­dat­ed and the inac­tion is ter­ri­ble, on a dai­ly basis, for many fam­i­lies in our com­mu­ni­ty. We felt we need­ed to do some­thing and the ban is what we decid­ed.”

SHoWLE also sup­ports evi­dence based actions and poli­cies that will address the trag­ic cost of unchecked gun vio­lence.

The ban takes effect imme­di­ate­ly and excep­tions will be made for sworn law enforce­ment offi­cers con­duct­ing offi­cial busi­ness.

About Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie

The mis­sion of the Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie is to pro­vide a sup­port­ive local com­mu­ni­ty for human­ists and oth­er non­the­ists, while pro­mot­ing an eth­i­cal, rea­son­able, and sec­u­lar approach to life through edu­ca­tion, com­mu­ni­ty ser­vice, out­reach, activism, and social events.

We envi­sion a Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan where sec­u­lar peo­ple are respect­ed and inte­grat­ed in broad­er soci­ety, live val­ues of rea­son and com­pas­sion, and enjoy a friend­ly human­ist com­mu­ni­ty.

Media Contact

Douglas Berger — President
567–302-0209

#

The full text of the Resolution can be found on our Policies and Resolution page

Posted on

SHoWLE Objects to Bedford Public Schools forcing kids to attend a religious event

Bedford Public Schools is forc­ing chil­dren to attend an assem­bly dur­ing the school day put on by a reli­gious group in the guise of sui­cide pre­ven­tion. Instead of allow­ing par­ents to opt-in to an event where kids will be “invit­ed” to attend a church ser­vice after school, par­ents must opt-out. The Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie strong­ly oppos­es these assem­blies that attempt to cir­cum­vent church and state sep­a­ra­tion by dis­guis­ing the reli­gious aspect under an impor­tant issue like sui­cide pre­ven­tion of char­ac­ter build­ing.

Carry the Cure is a non-profit orga­ni­za­tion that uti­lizes clin­i­cal tools, cul­tur­al tra­di­tions, and faith-based meth­ods to offer com­mu­ni­ties com­pre­hen­sive sui­cide & abuse pre­ven­tion and healthy life-choice skills. Carry the Cure does­n’t offer any sci­ence based tools that most schools don’t already know and use to help pre­vent chil­dren from com­mit­ting sui­cide.

Groups like Carry the Cure offer schools a free assem­bly on an impor­tant top­ic like sui­cide and dur­ing the pro­gram invite the kids in the audi­ence to anoth­er event either after school or at a local church where ser­mons, tes­ti­mo­ny, and oth­er reli­gious ser­vices not allowed at the assem­bly dur­ing the school day.

SHoWLE believes issues like sui­cide pre­ven­tion and char­ac­ter build­ing are impor­tant and some of that can be addressed in the school, but we object strong­ly to a reli­gious group being allowed to present a fake assem­bly to be used to indoc­tri­nate chil­dren in reli­gion lat­er. We also object that the fake assem­bly is manda­to­ry and requires the par­ents to opt-out. Any pro­gram, espe­cial­ly if it involves a reli­gious group, should always be opt-in with the par­ents ful­ly informed as to pur­pose of the pro­gram, the group pro­vid­ing the pro­gram, and any oth­er ques­tions that arise.

Bedford Public Schools made an error is approv­ing Carry the Cure to per­form their fake assem­bly dur­ing the school day and to force chil­dren to attend.

Social Media post for the after­school event. The fake assem­blies were sched­uled for 1:45 PM September 13th and 12:45 PM September 14th
Posted on

More than half of LGBTQIA+ People are Nonreligious

This week­end SHoWLE will be hav­ing a booth at the Toledo Pride Festival at Promenade Park in Downtown Toledo from 12:30 PM to 7 PM. If we get the rain and storms fore­cast for Saturday after­noon we may leave the fes­ti­val before 7 PM.

The Secular Survey from American Atheists just released a report this week with some insights into non­re­li­gious LGBTQIA+ peo­ple. The report says over half of LGBTQIA+ peo­ple are non­re­li­gious and most of them belong to sec­u­lar groups like SHoWLE.

The top pol­i­cy issues is pro­tect­ing the sec­u­lar pub­lic schools, get­ting rid of reli­gious exemp­tions to dis­crim­i­nate, and fur­ther­ing LGBTQIA+ civ­il rights and equal­i­ty.

If you are cel­e­brat­ing Pride this week­end and are look­ing for a wel­com­ing, inclu­sive com­mu­ni­ty please check us out.

Posted on

Statement Concerning the Leaked SCOTUS Abortion Case Decision

Our right to privacy is now in danger

Like many in this coun­try the Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie were heart­bro­ken by the con­tent of the Dobbs deci­sion of the US Supreme Court when it was leaked in May. It com­plete­ly guts a woman’s right to abor­tion under 1973’s Roe v. Wade deci­sion.

We knew this was a pos­si­bil­i­ty from the decades long effort by reli­gious zealots to over­turn the case and send us back to the time of secret back-alley abor­tions that led to unnec­es­sary deaths.

To be truth­ful, abor­tions will still hap­pen, but the abor­tions will be less safe. Those who are caught in pover­ty will be worse off and women becom­ing preg­nant due to a rape or incest will have no oth­er options to ter­mi­nate their preg­nan­cy.

The deci­sion also hints at future attacks on same sex mar­riage, sodomy, and con­tra­cep­tion. Religious zealots want to stomp all of that out and peo­ple like Justice Alito, Thomas, and the oth­er con­ser­v­a­tives on the court are more than hap­py to help.

Religious con­ser­v­a­tives believe wear­ing masks and not being allowed to pray in a church dur­ing a pan­dem­ic is a severe vio­la­tion of their reli­gious free­dom, yet they don’t think twice in using their reli­gion to jus­ti­fy tak­ing fun­da­men­tal rights from all of us. With this deci­sion, our right to pri­va­cy is in dan­ger.

SHoWLE strong­ly con­demns the Dobbs deci­sion. We will nev­er stop sup­port­ing a wom­an’s right to repro­duc­tive choice and every­one’s right to pri­va­cy.

We also repeat our inten­tion not to work with ANY group that does­n’t sup­port a wom­an’s right to make her own health care choic­es. We also will refuse to work with groups who don’t sup­port a right to pri­va­cy.

We know it is a big ask to boy­cott Ohio, which is poised to end legal abor­tion, but if a busi­ness isn’t able to leave or refuse to do busi­ness in states that ban abor­tion, we at least ask those busi­ness­es to strong­ly express their sup­port for a wom­an’s right to choose and offer to help employ­ees obtain abor­tions in states where it will be legal.

Besides con­tact­ing your elect­ed rep­re­sen­ta­tives and sup­port­ing any protests against tak­ing the right to choose from women, we also ask that you donate to local abor­tion groups who help those with less resources to get the care they need.

The Agnes Reynolds Jackson Fund (focus­es on NW Ohio and Toledo)

Women Have Options

Preterm

Midwest Access Coalition

Pro-Choice Ohio

National Network of Abortion Funds

Updated on 06/24/2022 when the deci­sion was offi­cial­ly hand­ed down

The vote to over­turn Roe was 5–4. Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett joined Alito’s opin­ion. Chief Justice John Roberts did not join the opin­ion. He agreed with the major­i­ty that the Mississippi abor­tion restric­tion at issue in the case should be upheld, but in a sep­a­rate opin­ion, he argued that the court should not have over­turned Roe.

The court’s three lib­er­als, Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan, filed a joint dis­sent.

Supreme Court over­turns con­sti­tu­tion­al right to abor­tion

Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization

Posted on

Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie Condemns Ohio HB 616

The Board of the Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie urges leg­is­la­tors and our com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers to oppose Ohio House Bill 616.

HB 616 elim­i­nates the abil­i­ty to teach on and dis­cuss top­ics like sex­u­al ori­en­ta­tion, gen­der iden­ti­ty, and race. If enact­ed, HB 616 would attempt to erase dis­cus­sion of the his­to­ry and lived expe­ri­ences of mar­gin­al­ized com­mu­ni­ties and stu­dents. The bil­l’s broad lan­guage will have a chill­ing effect on learn­ing envi­ron­ments.

HB 616’s def­i­n­i­tion of anti-racist con­cepts like diver­si­ty, equi­ty, and inclu­sion as “inher­ent­ly racist” and its explic­it men­tions of inter­sec­tion­al­i­ty and crit­i­cal race the­o­ry sug­gest a focus on the sen­si­bil­i­ties of a nar­row group of adults, rather than deep engage­ment with the needs and con­cerns of teach­ers and stu­dents in Ohio’s K‑3 class­rooms.

Humanists “com­mit to treat­ing each per­son as hav­ing inher­ent worth and dig­ni­ty” and “long for and strive toward a world of mutu­al care and con­cern” (The Third Humanist Manifesto). HB 616 direct­ly con­tra­dicts our core val­ues by attempt­ing to leg­is­late away any dis­cus­sion of already mar­gin­al­ized groups.

Listening to peo­ple’s sto­ries is at the heart of acknowl­edg­ing each per­son­’s inher­ent worth. We can only move toward a world of mutu­al care by cul­ti­vat­ing empa­thy; empa­thy can­not be cul­ti­vat­ed when the sto­ries, expe­ri­ences, and his­to­ries of mar­gin­al­ized groups are made unspeak­able.

It is for these rea­sons that the Board of the Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie con­demns this bill and oth­ers like it.

We also encour­age our mem­bers to com­mu­ni­cate with their State House Representative. You can find your rep­re­sen­ta­tive by enter­ing your address at the Ohio House of Representatives web­site.

Further infor­ma­tion about the bill can be found here:

House Bill 616 @ Equality Ohio 

House Bill 616 @ Honesty for Ohio Education

Tip of the hat to the Humanist Community of Central Ohio for shar­ing the for­mat of their state­ment used above.

Posted on

SHoWLE Condemns Invasion of Ukraine by Russia

Toledo, February 24, 2022 —

The Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie are heart bro­ken that Russia has unjust­ly invad­ed the Ukraine. We con­demn Russia’s actions.

Unjust war is the fail­ure of peo­ple to find com­mon ground and con­sen­sus to live peace­ably. All peo­ple should stand against the use of war­fare to boost ego or set­tle old scores.

SHoWLE believes that the solu­tion to this naked use of war­fare will only be solved by peo­ple and not through thoughts and prayers. There needs to be large scale sanc­tions like exclud­ing Russia from all inter­na­tion­al orga­ni­za­tions they belong to such as sport fed­er­a­tions.

A coun­try want­i­ng to be a good inter­na­tion­al neigh­bor does­n’t start a war for no ratio­nal rea­son.

It is dis­ap­point­ing that the inter­na­tion­al com­mu­ni­ty did­n’t act soon­er to address Russia’s human rights vio­la­tions.

SHoWLE will sup­port groups whose mis­sion is to aid inno­cent peo­ple caught in the cross­fire.

Our thoughts go out to the peo­ple of the Ukraine and we hope this human rights vio­la­tion by Russia ends quick­ly and any loss of life is low.

About Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie

The mis­sion of the Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie is to pro­vide a sup­port­ive local com­mu­ni­ty for human­ists and oth­er non­the­ists, while pro­mot­ing an eth­i­cal, rea­son­able, and sec­u­lar approach to life through edu­ca­tion, com­mu­ni­ty ser­vice, out­reach, activism, and social events.

We envi­sion a Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan where sec­u­lar peo­ple are respect­ed and inte­grat­ed in broad­er soci­ety, live val­ues of rea­son and com­pas­sion, and enjoy a friend­ly human­ist com­mu­ni­ty.

Media Contacts

Douglas Berger — President
567–302-0209

#

Posted on

Our Virtual Darwin Birthday Blood Drive

Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie is cel­e­brat­ing Charles Darwin’s birth­day with an urgent call for blood dona­tions. There is a crit­i­cal need in our area.

Darwin used sci­ence to change how we under­stand biol­o­gy and evo­lu­tion. With mod­ern sci­ence and tech­nol­o­gy, you can impact lives today by donat­ing blood.

For the next 90 days, go to the link below and pledge to give blood, then go to your near­est blood col­lec­tion cen­ter and give the blood. Help make a pos­i­tive impact to some­one in need.

SHoWLE Act Of Humanity Challenge

Take a pho­to of your­self donat­ing blood and share it! Just use the hash­tag #SHoWLEActofHumanityChallenge