Ethical Humanist Society of Los Angeles

01/02/2026

"Hope: because humanists feel that, failings notwithstanding, it is humanly possible for us to achieve worthwhile things during our brief existence on Earth, whether in literature or art or historical research, or in the furthering of scientific knowledge, or in improving the well-being of ourselves and other human beings."

Sarah Bakewell, from “Humanly Possible: Seven Hundred Years of Humanist Freethinking, Inquiry, and Hope”

12/26/2025

"We do not seek omens to guide us through the coming days."
"We rely on our human resources and our own observations to determine the paths that we might choose for the coming year."
- from Gerald A. Larue, “The Way of Positive Humanism”

12/23/2025

This holiday season, I'm reminded of a story by Gerald A. Larue, of when he brought an ancient lamp to the Ethical Culture Society of Los Angeles. The Society members lit the lamp and from that flame lit their individual candles to carry out into the world to light the darkness. "The darkness is still there," Larue said at a Solstice Platform in 1987, "but so are the lights, and because of them changes will come, just as changes have come in the past. Changes begin with individuals. Your light is the light of hope for the future."
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Hi, Mollie here. This 2026, please join me as I aim to re-launch a new Ethical Society here in Los Angeles. I've been running these social media pages for years, but didn't quite have the courage to launch the Society until now (especially on my own 😅). Feel free to join the Facebook group (link in comments below), and keep an eye out for a relaunched website and online events starting in January, starting with a monthly theme of "HOPE". Thank you!

12/21/2025

Tonight, on the longest night of this long year, let us embrace the warmth of our humanity & look forward to the year to come.

12/06/2025

This Sunday morning (tomorrow): Join the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture and California-based The Encampment for a special presentation on the Encampment's history and programs building ethical youth leaders.

🕑 Time: December 7th, 9:30 Pacific / 12:30 Eastern
🏛️ Join In-Person: Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture
💻 Join Online via Zoom: RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-encampment-for-citizenship-virtual-tickets-1972794899651

This Sunday, Margot Gibney, EFC executive director and Faith Kares, incoming ED are speaking at the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture. You can join in-person or virtually!

When: Sunday December 7, 12:30 PM Eastern/9:30 AM Pacific
Where: via Zoom & In-Person at 269 4th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY
Please RSVP to participate either virtually or in-person:
https://bsec.org/events/the-encampment-for-citizenship/.

What: The Encampment for Citizenship (EFC) was established in 1946 by Ethical Culture Leader Algernon Black and NY Society member Alice (Nanny) Pollitzer. The EFC is a national nonprofit that builds youth leadership and cultivates intergenerational community in the service of social and economic justice. EFC staff and alums will present on our current programs and initiatives as we are responding to the current assault on democracy and human rights. Our presentation will include time for dialogue and identifying ways the EFC and Brooklyn Society members can work together to meet this moment.

08/14/2023

"If we discard beliefs in supernatural powers, what does the Ethical Humanist substitute?

We teach that humans are the makers of their own bo***ge. It is we who forge the shackles that hold us prisoner to false beliefs. We alone can fashion the key that sets the self free."

-GERALD A. LaRue, Ethical Society Leader

08/10/2023

"For secularists, nothing is sacred; for mystics, everything.

Ethical Humanists, by contrast, hold that holiness is created by the manner in which a person meets the world."

- Arthur Dobrin
Ethical Society Leader (Ethical Humanist Society of Long Island, Emeritus)

08/04/2023

"We believe that morality depends upon something deeper and more permanent than any of the dogmas that have hitherto been current in the churches. It is a product of human nature, not of any of these transcendental speculations or faint survivals of traditional superstitions." - Sir Leslie Stephen, "The Aims of Ethical Societies"

07/09/2023

When it's late at night and you're working with poor lighting but still want to show off your custom Ethical Humanist Society bling 👸🏼

Also, I'm cheering on all the hardworking Ethical Humanists/Ethical Culturalists taking part in American Ethical Union's 108th Annual Assembly. Y'all got important work to do and choices to make, but just know you have an outsider here in the City of Angels believing in you 👋

07/06/2023

New social media just launched: Threads by Meta/Instagram. Follow us at threads.net/ for bite-sized Humanist, Ethical Humanist, and community-building memes and chats! 😎