Tag: Toledo

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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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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.

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