Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie
Building community through compassion and reason for a better tomorrow.
Join us for the Secular Week of Action as we help the Seagate Foodbank. We need to have 10 volunteers. We will be probably packing food boxes. RSVP on this event page to volunteer.
This is the event we had to cancel in February due to a snow storm.
We want to have at least 10 people volunteer
SHoWLE recently created a new resource page that has links to tools and sources to help us support democracy.
These links include links to liked minded groups and news sources that actually cover the real news and not the corporate white-washed version we see most often.
The title of the new page is Supporting Democracy and can be found under our Resources menu on the website.
Also included is links to new videos created by President Doug Berger that helps the viewer setup and use the My Ohio Legislature and GovTrack.us legislation tracking websites.
If you have any suggestions or corrections for this new resource please let us know.
A relatively new grassroots advocacy group is called Toledo Troublemakers and is affiliated with Red, Wine, and Blue. The Toledo Troublemakers are a group of like-minded individuals in NW Ohio and SE Michigan who want to work together to support one another and strengthen our community by taking positive action on local, state, and national issues.
The local group is co-ordinated by SHoWLE member Heather Spies and she will be our guest speaker. Bring your questions and concerns about our current political situation.
To join the Toledo Troublemakers please visit:
https://redwineblue.controlshift.app/groups/toledo-troublemakers
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/toledotroublemakers/
Email: toledotroublemakers@gmail.com
About Heather:
Heather is a full time Registered Veterinary Technician. She is a Certified Compassion Fatigue Professional and an AVMA (American Veterinary Medical Board) Wellbeing Educator and plays a significant role in bringing wellbeing initiatives into the veterinary hospital she works at and to the community. She has become more involved
in political activism over the past few years.
We will be in Community Room B
We will try to livestream on our YouTube channel. Check back here for the details and the link
Unless otherwise noted, our meetings and events are free and open to the public. In-person, in-door meetings and events we STRONGLY recommend attendees wear masks. Speakers can wear them if they choose while speaking. Click more information about our In-person Meeting Policy. SHoWLE has a No Weapons policy
Here is the link for our live stream. If you are a member and logged into this website you have access to the Zoom link as well.
YouTube Live Stream — click on link and select the LIVE tab.
Member Only Zoom Link
A relatively new grassroots advocacy group is called Toledo Troublemakers and is affiliated with Red, Wine, and Blue. The Toledo Troublemakers are a group of like-minded individuals in NW Ohio and SE Michigan who want to work together to support one another and strengthen our community by taking positive action on local, state, and national issues …
Zoom link is restricted to members only. If you are a member then login and then view this page again.
Recently President Trump signed an Executive Order that tried to dismiss the existence of Trans people and he has taken action to exclude the LGBTQ community from the national scene. Sixteen secular groups including the AHA signed on to a letter supporting the LGBTQ community. Some people don’t believe LGBTQ rights are a church state issue. We will discuss this important issue and discover why LGBTQ rights and others are a church and state issue.
This discussion will be led by SHoWLE President Douglas Berger
FREE and open to the public
*Weather Update*: Snow is expected in the afternoon after our meeting but if that looks like it might change we may need to switch to Zoom and not meet in-person. Be sure to check this page again before you leave for the library.
Here is the link for our live stream. If you are a member and logged into this website you have access to the Zoom link as well.
YouTube Live Stream — click on link and select the LIVE tab.
Some people don’t believe LGBTQ rights are a church state issue. We will discuss this important issue and discover why LGBTQ rights and others are a church and state issue …
Zoom link is restricted to members only. If you are a member then login and then view this page again.
The SHoWLE Board of Directors adopted the following statement in support of the LGBTQ+ community and to oppose bigotry. This statement can be found in our Policies and Resolution page of the website.
The Board of the Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie voted on January 21, 2025, to “sign on” to a statement issued by a majority of the secular, Humanist, and freethought groups in the country affirming our commitment to support and protect the rights of the LGBTQ+ community in this country.
In a statement titled “Statement from American Atheist, Humanist, Freethought, and Secular Groups Affirming Commitment to Protecting LGBTQ+ Rights” 16 national secular groups affirmed:
“We will not permit religious extremists to foment a moral panic, encourage harassment or violence, and enact dangerous policies that seek to force LGBTQ+ Americans generally—and trans Americans in particular—out of public life and out of existence. Nor will we sit silently or ignore when the talking points, misinformation, and outright fabrications of anti-LGBTQ+ extremists are laundered and given a veneer of legitimacy or acceptability by those who hold themselves out as voices of reason or science.”
The SHoWLE Board agrees 100% with the statement and we intend that our group will continue to be a welcoming place for all people no matter who you are or who you love. Our Humanist values demand it.
We need more compassion and understanding and much less irrational hysteria. We need laws and policies based on data and actual reality and not biases, religious indoctrination, or tabloid anecdotes.
SHoWLE also will not tolerate bigotry from our state legislature, general community, or our membership. We will call out that bigotry when needed. We will not support or work with any group that supports bigotry of any kind especially toward the LGBTQ+ community.
Some people have said that recent attacks on the Trans community have been only about discussing science and biology and that by not allowing that discussion we are censoring science. We reject that argument.
Free speech arguments should never be used to justify hurting people and whether a group should have basic dignity, and worth should never be debated.
No one should live in fear for simply existing.
Starting on February 1st, 2025, SHoWLE will reduce our use of Facebook. We will put in a static post pointing visitors to our website but we will not update our public page, boost any posts, or create any new events.
We don’t make this decision easily but the change in political views of the CEO and other actions taken by Meta, the owner of Facebook, make our continued use of the platform problematic. If you are not aware of these issues check out the links at the end of this post for some details. In general:
The fact-checking moderation was put into place a decade ago because Facebook was used to facilitate ethnic cleansing in a couple of countries. Not to mention now there will be more irrational posts about the harm of vaccines and other promotion of woo.
We will keep our private group page for now but we intend to promote a more open community forum in the future off Facebook.
We recommend that our members also move away from Facebook but that decision should be left up to each individual. In the links below is an article from EFF.org that shows how to block use of your data for profit making by Meta.
If you have any questions about this new policy, feel free to reach out to Doug or other Board members.
Meta ends its DEI programs as Zuckerberg blasts Biden on Joe Rogan
Mark Zuckerberg Preps for More Ethnic Cleansing
Mad at Meta? Don’t Let Them Collect and Monetize Your Personal Data
You can also find us on Bluesky as Toledo Humanist Community
*Update* Due to a snow storm arriving about the time this event was to happen, and consulting with the Food bank, we have decided to postpone this event to a later date — might be in April or May for the Secular Week of Action. Thanks to all who volunteered
Join us for Darwin Day as we help the Seagate Foodbank. We need to have 10 volunteers. We will be probably packing food boxes. RSVP on this event page to volunteer.
SHoWLE Board member Derek Wilmott will present on the history of immigration into the United States. Discussion will follow.
We will be in Community Room A
This meeting is FREE and open to the public
This event is subject to the SHoWLE General Meeting & Event Cancellation Policy
*Update 1/10/2025* FYI: We still intend to have our regular meeting tomorrow morning 1/11 at Sanger Library Branch. Weather people say we might get 1 to 2 inches of snow by the morning. We also plan to live stream the meeting from our Instagram account should you elect not to attend in person. Here is our Instagram page https://www.instagram.com/sechumwesternlakeerie/
In 2022, there were 24,760 children experiencing food insecurity in Lucas county. What is food insecurity and how can we help reduce it?
This will be a group discussion
Here are some links to check out before the meeting:
City officials assessing ways to address food insecurity in Toledo
Community leader seek answers to Toledo’s food desserts (Feb. 2023)
Editorial: Solve Food Insecurity
This meeting is FREE and open to the public. We will be in Community Room A
One of our community outreaches we’ve done, really since SHoWLE was founded, is sponsoring a family through the Lucas County Children’s Services. They match us with a family and we donate gifts to help make their holiday season a merry one. Now through December 8th we are collecting gifts. Check out the details below.
Thank you to all the donors for another excellent gift drive. Here is the result of our work:
We intend to participate in 2025.