IHS Grant Fund Success Stories: Humanist Community

Humanist Community: Sunday School Without Sin

Although most of its members are hitting retirement age, the Humanist Community in northern California has recently turned its focus on youth.

The group had tried several times in past decades to set up a "sin free" humanist Sunday school to accompany their regular Sunday morning free thinker gatherings. In the 1980s they offered monthly programs for children, but a similar program in the 1990s failed to attract children. In 2003, the education committee of the Humanist Community developed a comprehensive strategy to create an appealing curriculum for a weekly children's program.

This unique approach attracted the attention of the Institute for Humanist Studies, which awarded the Humanist Community $6,000 in 2004 for the enhancement of the program. With this help, the Sunday school was able to advertise and fund weekly sessions.

The weekly gatherings focus on humanist teachings, using four basic guidelines to outline the curriculum:

• Affirming the worth and dignity of all human beings.
• Asserting human responsibility for human problems.
• Celebrating human interconnection with all of nature.
• Practicing deep democracy.

The community hired Lois Kellerman as the director of the children's program. An experienced humanist and ethical culture leader, Kellerman has served as a Sunday school director for the New York Society for Ethical Culture.

Each week, Kellerman leads the small group of children in sing-alongs (songs like "I'm unique and unrepeatable"), book reading, as well as arts and crafts -- all with a humanist theme.

The Humanist Community is excited that the program has finally materialized, and is now looking to boost attendance. They will continue to advertise, for they realize that they have successfully laid a solid base for expansion.

"This program has already brought new energy and younger faces into our group," wrote Arthur M. Jackson, president of the community.