 Grass Roots News, the newsletter of the American Humanist Association Chapter Assembly, is featuring the Greater Boston Humanists in the July '09 issue's Chapter Profile on the front page.
From Joe Gerstein and Tom Ferrick's statement:
We the members thank the American Humanist Association for designating us as the Chapter of the Year, 2009. It came as a complete surprise. Our full attention this past year was on achieving incorporation from the state and in changing our name by 2010 to the Greater Boston Humanists. We have numbered well over one hundred members for several years so it was wise to have the protections that come with corporate status. Equally important is the fact that we aren’t the only Humanist Chapter in Massachusetts (as was the case a few short years ago). To our joy and satisfaction, playing the role of mid-wife, we now have in our state the Humanists of Greater Worcester, a Humanist Chapter on Cape Cod, the Humanist chapter of Harvard University, (and a chapter “on the way” at Tufts University). We are presently helping a Concord group achieve viability. Our name indicates the new focus, the Boston area.
We members are a happy lot; attend any one of our social events, luncheons or picnics, and it’s obvious we enjoy each other’s company. We’re loyal -- we set a budget annually and we meet it. We put out a fairly erudite newsletter, (Joe Gerstein’s essays and Peter Denison’s book reviews) and announce the relevance of coming programs. The latter have been notable, remember Fr. Drinan, the progressive-minded Jesuit, John Kenneth Galbraith, B.F. Skinner, and of course, E.O. Wilson. Harvard University has been a fabulous resource. For several years now we have had both an innovative and indefatigable president, Dr. Joe Gerstein, and a steady executive director, Tom Ferrick, who helped found first the Chaplaincy and then the Chapter in the 1970’s. Our board members have been self-sacrificing and responsible, (one of whom, David Niose, now heads the AHA). Several chapter members are authors of note, including Tom Clark (Philosophy), James Farmelant, (Atheism), Mark Lindley (Gandhi) and, the latest, our colleague, Greg Epstein, whose book, “Good Without God,” will soon be published.
Among our proudest achievements has been Smart Recovery, an addiction program based in cognitive science and free of any supernaturalism, which is now world wide - thanks first and foremost to Dr. Gerstein. It has been also his generosity and imagination that have supported two educational centers in India and one in Turkey; their leaders have journeyed here to thank and inspire us. We’ve had our share of shortcomings, of course, such as failing to involve more of our members in voluntary action and bringing a sufficient number of younger persons into membership. However, when it comes to living out the principles of Humanism, through reason and empathy, we are doing our very best. |
