“Building Community in a World of Difference”

Felix Adler founded the Ethical Culture movement in a city of teeming diversity. In 1876, nearly half of the million people living in New York were foreign born. He strove to build human connection across chasms of difference. Today, in a world where difference seems to be tearing us apart, what can we learn from his efforts? What have we learned in the following hundred years that can help us with this difficult task? After all, in the words of Audre Lorde, “Any future vision which can encompass all of us, by definition, must be complex and expanding, not easy to achieve.”

Hugh Taft-Morales serves as Leader of the Philadelphia Ethical Society and the Baltimore Ethical Society and is a member of the Ethical Action Committee of the American Ethical Union (AEU).  Hugh taught philosophy and history for twenty-five years in Washington, D. C., after which he transitioned into Ethical Culture Leadership.  In April of 2009 he graduated from the Humanist Institute and was certified as an Ethical Culture Leader by the AEU in 2010.

Born and raised in Connecticut, Taft-Morales graduated with a B.A. cum laude in American History from Yale University, 1979, and an M.A. in Philosophy from the University of Kent at Canterbury, England, 1986.  He lives in Takoma Park, Maryland, with his wife, Maureen, a Specialist in Latin America for the Congressional Research Service.  They have three wonderful adult children – Sean, Maya, and Justin. Hugh’s hobbies include yoga, singing, and playing guitar.