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SHoWLE Will Not Take St. Anthony Land Bank Pledge

screenshot of Toledo officials and Rep. Marcy Kaptur at a press conference demanding the Diocese of Toledo save St. Anthony church

*For Immediate Release*

Toledo, Ohio, June 22, 2018 — The Lucas County Land Bank, a coun­ty agency, vot­ed to accept the dona­tion of St. Anthony Church from the Diocese of Toledo con­tin­gent on an engi­neer­ing inspec­tion and a call for writ­ten pledges to help in rede­vel­op­ing the build­ing. At this time the Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie (SHoWLE) has decid­ed NOT to make a pledge.

“Although the church and state issues we were con­cerned about seem to be abat­ed. We are still trou­bled with the city and coun­ty tak­ing on this project with­out any con­crete plans,” said SHoWLE President Doug Berger.

“We do feel that the Padua Center and the neigh­bor­hood should not only have a seat at the table but should be tak­ing the lead in any plans for the build­ing. We did­n’t feel it was appro­pri­ate telling them how to reuse the build­ing.”

Berger added that SHoWLE will be mon­i­tor­ing the issue and should it look like out­siders are min­i­miz­ing or ignor­ing neigh­bor­hood input then it is pre­pared to sup­port the neigh­bor­hood.

“Whatever is done with the build­ing has to ben­e­fit the whole neigh­bor­hood and not just the out­siders who ‘saved’ it,” Berger said.

Media Contacts

Douglas Berger — President
567–302-0209

Shawn Meagley — co-founder
419–266-7945

 

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We Are Now Offically A Chapter Of The American Humanist Association!!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie is now an offi­cial chap­ter of the American Humanist Association

(Toledo, Ohio, June 7, 2018) — The Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie (SHoWLE) had their chap­ter appli­ca­tion approved by the American Humanist Association.

Founded in 1941 and head­quar­tered in Washington, D.C., the American Humanist Association (AHA) works to pro­tect the rights of human­ists, athe­ists, and oth­er non­the­is­tic Americans. The AHA advances the eth­i­cal and life-affirming world­view of human­ism, which—without beliefs in any gods or oth­er super­nat­ur­al forces—encourages indi­vid­u­als to live informed and mean­ing­ful lives that aspire to the greater good of human­i­ty.

“This is a major foun­da­tion­al stone we need­ed for SHoWLE to have a chance at a strong start and become a sus­tain­able long term active group in north­west Ohio and south­east Michigan,” SHoWLE President Doug Berger said. “The AHA does a great job sup­port­ing their local chap­ters and it will be a great asset for Humanists in Toledo.”

Media Contacts

Douglas Berger — President
567–302-0209

Shawn Meagley — co-founder
419–266-7945

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Humanists Ask Toledo Officials Not To Insert Themselves In Saving St. Anthony

screenshot of Toledo officials and Rep. Marcy Kaptur at a press conference demanding the Diocese of Toledo save St. Anthony church

The Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie (SHoWLE) urge Toledo city offi­cials and US Rep. Marcy Kaptur not to insert them­selves in the effort to save St. Anthony Catholic Church on Nebraska Avenue.

“Seeing Rep. Kaptur and cur­rent and past Toledo elect­ed offi­cials stand­ing at a podi­um with the city of Toledo seal, demand­ing the Diocese of Toledo not tear down St. Anthony is trou­bling,” Doug Berger, President of SHoWLE said.

The sep­a­ra­tion of church and state not only pro­tects the gov­ern­ment from reli­gious intru­sion but also pro­tects reli­gion from some intru­sion by the gov­ern­ment.

“It sets a bad prece­dent, espe­cial­ly as orga­nized reli­gion con­tin­ues to lose mem­bers,” Berger said. “The City of Toledo can’t save all the old church­es in the city and when it choos­es not to then that is going to be a no win sit­u­a­tion.”

The Diocese of Toledo, in a state­ment, won­dered where the calls to save the build­ing were for the past 13 years after it closed and as the build­ing con­tin­ued to dete­ri­o­rate.

“The gov­ern­ment offi­cials demand­ing the build­ing not be torn down will stick the Diocese with the repair bills should they pre­vail. The only way for tax dol­lars to be spent on a ren­o­va­tion and/or reuse would require the prop­er­ty be sold to a non-religious enti­ty at a fair mar­ket price,” Berger said.

The mis­lead­ing state­ment by a com­mu­ni­ty mem­ber that demo­li­tion would be a health and safe­ty issue is also a prob­lem.

“If the build­ing were kept, it would still need any asbestos and lead paint removed and it would have to meet mod­ern build­ing stan­dards. I don’t think the Diocese hired a fly by night demo­li­tion com­pa­ny who would­n’t take the required pre­cau­tions in tear­ing down such an old build­ing.”

The build­ing is his­tor­i­cal and sig­nif­i­cant to many peo­ple in the com­mu­ni­ty but there has­n’t been any spe­cif­ic plans from the peo­ple want­i­ng to keep it.

SHoWLE believes that Rep. Kaptur and the city of Toledo should­n’t pick sides in the issue and they should stay neu­tral as called for in the 1st amend­ment.

Related sto­ry:

Kaptur, Kapszukiewicz call on dio­cese to halt St. Anthony demo­li­tion

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Secular Humanists Make The Newspaper

screenshot Front of the Religion section Toledo Blade 06/02/2018

The Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie had a nice write up in the reli­gion sec­tion of the Toledo Blade. The print ver­sion took up near­ly half a page and was above the fold. We could nev­er afford adver­tis­ing that good.

To ques­tion whether morals and val­ues can exist apart from the­ol­o­gy cuts to the heart of sec­u­lar human­ism. While athe­ism sim­ply denotes that an indi­vid­ual does not believe in God, sec­u­lar human­ism “kind of takes that a step fur­ther,” Ms. Meagley said; it answers the “now what” ques­tion that, for some, fol­lows when a per­son comes to terms with a dis­be­lief in God.

Secular humanism’s affir­ma­tion of an eth­i­cal life sug­gests par­al­lels between the ways that a con­sci­en­tious reli­gious adher­ent and a con­sci­en­tious human­ist would live. But a human­ist, sig­nif­i­cant­ly, would do so with­out tying these views and val­ues to the­ism or the super­nat­ur­al.

“Good Without God”

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First Meeting A Success

Nice Crowd at first meeting

Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie (SHoWLE) met for the first time offi­cial­ly on May 5th. We had a dozen human­ists inter­est­ed in the group and mov­ing for­ward.

The inter­est was so great that we were able to have enough AHA mem­bers to sign our chap­ter appli­ca­tion and we had sev­er­al peo­ple inter­est­ed in serv­ing on the steer­ing com­mit­tee. This com­mit­tee will help devel­op the for­mal struc­ture of the group as we become a chap­ter.

“I think it shows how need­ed a group like this is in Toledo and our PR cam­paign helped get the word out,” Co-founder Doug Berger said. “I am over the moon at the num­ber who attend­ed today with­out any pre­vi­ous his­to­ry.”

Berger led the meet­ing and gave a pre­sen­ta­tion about the group and what he would like to see hap­pen in the future. There was a good dis­cus­sion peri­od where the con­sen­sus was that there needs to be a group that can help pro­tect the 1st amend­ment and con­cern that our group is too small to be effec­tive.

“I under­stand the con­cern,” Berger said lat­er. “We need to start small and grow into some of the ideas I have for the group. I have no prob­lem with that.”

The next meet­ing will be on June 16th 2018 at 11 am at The 577 Foundation 577 East Front St.  Perrysburg, Ohio 43551 (just west of East Boundary St.)

Berger will also being doing a pre­sen­ta­tion about church and state issues in the Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan area.

All meet­ings of SHoWLE are free and open to the pub­lic.

Here is a clip from the Toledo Blade on May 5th:

Meeting announcement in the Blade
Religion Section Toledo Blade 05/05/2018
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A New Dawn For Humanism In Toledo

A new day is dawn­ing over Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan. From Monroe to Findlay and from Sandusky to Defiance, a new group is form­ing to give a safe space and com­mu­ni­ty to peo­ple who are sec­u­lar human­ists.

Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie (SHoWLE) val­ues peo­ple, empha­sizes rea­son, and focus­es on this world. Our pur­pose is edu­cat­ing the pub­lic about Humanism and build­ing a Humanist com­mu­ni­ty in Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan. Membership is open to all Humanists in sub­stan­tial agree­ment with our prin­ci­ples and val­ues. Our reg­u­lar meet­ings and sched­uled events will be free and open to the pub­lic.

SHoWLE will be hav­ing an orga­ni­za­tion­al meet­ing on May 5th, 2018 at 1 PM in the meet­ing room at the Washington Branch of the Toledo Public Library 5560 Harvest Lane Toledo OH 43623. The plan is to hold reg­u­lar month­ly meet­ings and become a chap­ter of the American Humanist Association.

Humanism is a demo­c­ra­t­ic and eth­i­cal lifes­tance which affirms that human beings have the right and respon­si­bil­i­ty to give mean­ing and shape to their own lives. It stands for the build­ing of a more humane soci­ety through an ethics based on human and oth­er nat­ur­al val­ues in a spir­it of rea­son and free inquiry through human capa­bil­i­ties. It is not the­is­tic, and it does not accept super­nat­ur­al views of real­i­ty.

For most, human­ism is an alter­na­tive to reli­gion. In many cas­es and sit­u­a­tions there is a human­ist alter­na­tive to prob­lems we see in the world. We feel that in the Toledo area, that alter­na­tive isn’t being heard. or at least being addressed.

We are look­ing to build a strong core of indi­vid­u­als who share Humanist val­ues and who want to build a vibrant com­mu­ni­ty for Humanists

If you have any ques­tions, or for media inquiries, feel free to use our con­tact form.

Visit our Facebook and Twitter pages too.

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Here for Good 2025: [Buy a T-shirt and Support SHoWLE](https://www.jupmodesupply.com/products/secular-humanists-of-western-lake-erie-here-for-good-2025)