American Values: What About Them Unites and Divides Us?

Barbara Starrett

SaddleBrooke Freethinkers are proud to have Richard Gilman speak on “American Values” on Sunday, Feb. 23. The meeting is held at the SaddleBrooke One clubhouse Vermillion Room, with a coffee social at 9:15 a.m. and the program at 9:45 a.m.

“American Values: Justice, Equality, Democracy, Liberty. Single, powerful, uplifting words. Each represents a standard by which we guide and judge ourselves. The sum of them is even greater. They define who we are, give us pride in being the United States of America.” Richard Gilman will discuss what about them unites and divides us and the tough work of doing something about it.

Gilman studies public policy and politics, most recently as the creator of the initiative “Our Common Purpose,” www.ourcommonpurpose.com. He grew up in Tucson, graduated from the University of Arizona, and started a 35-year newspaper career as a reporter and an editor of the Arizona Daily Star. After earning an MBA from Harvard, he went on to become a senior vice president of The New York Times and then in 1999 was named publisher of The Boston Globe. The Globe won three Pulitzer Prizes under his leadership, including the coveted gold medal for Public Service for the paper’s investigation into the cover-up of widespread sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests in the Boston Archdiocese. The movie Spotlight, which chronicled the reporting of that story, won the 2017 Academy Award for best picture. In 2018 Gilman was inducted into the UA School of Journalism Hall of Fame.

SaddleBrooke Freethinkers provides a forum for the responsible search for truth and meaning in understanding and solving human problems by applying science and reason. We believe that tolerance, compassion, equity, and civility should characterize interactions among people and organizations. We strive to achieve these goals through meetings, lectures, and discussions.

You can become a member of the SaddleBrooke Freethinkers for $15 per calendar year. This fee includes all lectures and other Freethinkers events like the book club and social events. The lecture program runs January through April and October through December. Lectures are open to all SaddleBrooke residents and their guests as space is available. Non-members are encouraged to make a $5 donation to defray costs. Attendees are encouraged to bring non-perishable food items and/or cash donations for the Tri-Community Food Bank.

For dates of future programs, go to our website at SBFreethinkers.wordpress.com.

For questions or to be added to the email list, please send your contact information to saddlebrookefreethinkers@gmail.com.