Who We Are -
Ethical Society Mid Rivers is a humanist community that focuses on living ethical lives and raising ethical
children. In 1876 Dr. Felix Adler founded the Ethical Culture Movement which proclaimed a vision of
humanity united in common concern for ethical values. We were founded in 2004 as a satellite group of the
St. Louis Ethical Society.
Two phrases you will hear often repeated in the Ethical Societies across America are "Deed before
Creed" and "Our goal is to bring out the best in others and thereby in ourselves."
A few words from Dr. Felix Adler:
"Now the daring thought that we had, in the beginning of the Ethical Movement, was to unite in one
group, in one bond, those who had this religious feeling and those who simply cared for the moral
betterment... In the broader sense religion means zealousness and devotion to something supreme, in the
special sense it means cosmic outreaching. Now I myself have always been a religious person in the second
sense, and never a mere moralist. But I founded this Society with the express purpose and intent that
it should not consist only of those who stood as I did, who had the same religious feeling and needs, but
that it should be open to all those who believed in moral betterment, because that is the point on which we
all agree. Our ethical religion has its basis in the effort to improve the world and ourselves
morally."
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