What can Humanist Realistically Accomplish

Dr. Jerry Lieberman talked to us about What humanists can realistically accomplish. Dr. Lieberman is president of the Humanist of Florida Association. His talk was not a lecture of the usual kind but designed and succeeded as a wake-up call to make more of ourselves and play a greater role in our community on all levels. Our CDHS is not unknown to him. He is well aware of our achievements, and praised in particular our monthly newsletter (which you are reading now), but without meaning offense, he prodded us that a humanist organization like ours could do more, and should.

That he surely deserves a right to do so, became soon evident, when he told how the Humanists of Florida Association – under his leadership – evolved from a local group of 43 and $ 8,000 in the bank into a state-wide organization with a budget of $ 50,000 which even can afford a salaried executive director. This didn’t happen by chance, he made clear to us, but was accomplished as the consequence of a plan, beginning with honing our awareness of what is going on around us and developing a plan of how we can be most effective to make Humanism something which cannot be ignored.

Dr. Lieberman’s association decided to go beyond a decent newsletter (no comparison with ours, he admitted) and an attractive speaker every month. They developed plans calling for daring actions of which people first said, “They couldn’t be done”. He gave us an impressive number of examples:  Instead of bashing religion they organized conferences inviting representatives of various denominations and also organizations which share some common goals with humanists, e.g. separation of Church and State, in this way showing that humanism represents a real-world value system. The acknowledgement and respect gained this way resulted in grants from unexpected sources like the Black Family Foundation (Vermont). Instead of using them for specific projects, the original grants were used to put planning on a sure and more professional footing. The newsletter was converted into a quarterly Journal, making humanists more able to spread their “wisdom” to a wider range of people.

The development of the organization was set on a dynamic path. Applications for grants became more systematic. There are foundations and organizations offering grants just waiting on applicants. For instance, the National Network of Grant Makers gives funding to every kind of endeavor that generates our freedom. The AHA (American Humanist Association; Dr. Lieberman is on their board) offers grants, so does the Institute for Humanist Studies (IHS, founded by Larry Jones). As one method for funding, Dr. Lieberman drew our attention to so-called charitable funds which he explained in more detail and which are a much more favorable investment than savings or money-market accounts.

There are plenty of attractive projects. Here, too, Dr. Lieberman was able to present examples of Florida successes: providing material for public service announcements and preparing discussions which are aired by local radio stations, and so getting access to the media; founding and supporting students’ groups at colleges, like the Secular Student’s Alliance, which besides winning students for our humanist ideas could help them to find employment through connections which are offered by humanist organizations.

After intensive deliberation , the Humanist of Florida Association has prepared a proposal to create a charter school and has already collected 500,000 signatures and obtained the endorsement of a Florida State senator and other influential people to secure an endowment of $5 million and the donation of the building. This charter school is a public school, but will be administered by a body of the Humanists of Florida. To give this charter school a unique direction, it will be named Carl Sagan Academy, in honor of the late astronomer Carl Sagan of Cornell University, famous as a humanist and for popularizing science to a wide audience.

Dr. Lieberman concluded with a recipe how to implement his suggestions and examples:

“Step I: Develop a list of activities which you believe could be accomplished;

Step II: Discuss these suggestions thoughtfully and creatively;

Step III: Build consensus and prioritize;

Step IV: from this final list, write a strategy plan that will be used over the next several years to achieve the goals and objectives inherent in your prioritized activities.”

He reminded us “Don’t be apprehensive to approach the IHS for help to facilitate a greater capacity of your organization. Foremost: Be yourself, be humanist.” 

A lively discussion followed, dominated by the charter school issue.