HCCO toured the ancient earthworks at Newark in 2024

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Welcome to HCCO’s new website

As we gather to celebrate this winter solstice, a moment of seasonal significance, I’d like us all to take a moment to reflect on the beauty of our shared humanity. In the embrace of the longest night, we find unity in our diversity, recognizing the common thread that binds us all.

Thoughts on work-life balance

Thoughts on bullying

Thoughts on altruism

Issue 1 will appear on the August 8, 2023, ballot. It will ask voters to change current law so that Amendments to the Ohio Constitution will be required to be approved by voters by a 60% supermajority of voters, rather than simple majority that has been Ohio law for over 100 years.

Given that we have a special election scheduled for August 8, 2023, I’d like to focus on social justice. As we know, social justice is about making sure that we respect and protect the dignity and worth of every human being. I would further add that for those of us with positions of privilege based on our education, gender, or other socioeconomic indicators have a duty to use that privilege to ensure that those who are vulnerable have space to make their own decisions and make their voices heard.

At HCCO we envision a livable, sustainable Columbus that champions progressive, Humanist values. Columbus DSA’s campaign for universal, tuition-free child care will benefit parents, children, and workers while reducing incarceration rates, improving graduation rates, and narrowing the gender pay gap. Sign up for more information and to get involved in ensuring all families thrive: https://hcco.link/childcare

Humanism holds to the inherent worth and dignity of all people and grounds our ethics in science while seeking to balance individual freedom and interdependent responsibility to others. The decision from the U.S. Supreme Court in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization violates all these principles as does the six-week abortion ban in Ohio. Dobbs empowers those systems that seek to treat women and other people who can get pregnant as second-class citizens, essentially reducing them to chattel status.

The Board of the Humanist Community of Central Ohio urges legislators and our community members to oppose Ohio House Bill 616.

HB 616 eliminates the ability to teach on and discuss topics like sexual orientation, gender identity, and race. If enacted, HB 616 would attempt to erase discussion of the history and lived experiences of marginalized communities and students. The bill’s broad language will have a chilling effect on learning environments.

Update July 29, 2020

This has been a trying year, and we know the solitude of doing the right thing is wearing on us all. We want to thank everyone for sticking with HCCO through these trying and uncertain times. 

We know that being able to look forward to the resumption of in-person events including the end of summer picnic and winter solstice banquet have been bright spots for many of us. Unfortunately, given the progression of the pandemic throughout the state of Ohio and in Franklin County the board made the difficult decision to cancel all in-person events through the remainder of the year.

Across the country and in central Ohio, anger over our country’s systemic racism and the violence it perpetuates against the black community has given rise to protests, both peaceful and violent. Those of us who find ourselves in a place of racial privilege might be unsure of how to respond and support our black siblings in humanity. We might feel overwhelmed and so decide to sit on the sidelines. This is understandable, but the one thing we cannot do is nothing.