“Ethical Culture’s Unique Role in the World” will be presented by Don Montagna at the Sunday, August 27, 2023 meeting at 11 a.m. This will be a hybrid meeting. All are welcome to attend.

Don Montagna, retired Ethical Culture Leader of the Washington Ethical Society, will reflect on Ethical Culture’s unique role in the world. Felix Adler, Ethical Society founder, had a clear, sophisticated and still relevant perspective of a religion that integrated science and spirituality and addressed the needs of a secular society. Why are religions declining? What are the needs of people in a secular world? Are there principles for a good life?

Don Montagna is co-founder and Board President of International Partners (IP), a non-profit that supports Salvadoran communities, most of whom live by subsistence farming, to implement projects proposed by the communities for education, health, and specific needs such as piping water to houses. (https://internationalpartners.org/)

For 34 years, Don was the senior leader of the Washington Ethical Society. He served on the AEU Board and Executive Committee and as president of the AEU National Leaders Council. Don has recorded 150 presentations and written several curricula about Ethical Culture.

He does organizational and leadership consulting with numerous projects in fields ranging from homelessness to education. Prior to his current work in El Salvador, he worked with IP in Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, and Honduras, as well as conducting leadership and grant training for US AID in the Philippines and Ethiopia. Don and Nancy live in a house they built themselves on a hillside facing the Blue Ridge mountains, overlooking their llamas and garden.

This is a hybrid meeting.