Heroes of Ethical Culture: Matthew les Spetter

Dr. Carolyn A. Parker continues her Heroes of Ethical Culture series with a timely dive into the life and writings of Matthew les Spetter. Dr. Spetter was a member of the Dutch Resistance, an Ethical Culture leader, and advocate of “militant humanism.”

I need truth,” he wrote, “because I was an eyewitness to the premeditated murder of children. The killers were men and women of a nation much akin to my own. The children were ours. I need truth because my generation allowed the ultimately impermissible and because such killing continues. Men everywhere, while protesting their abhorrence, are still willing to permit the impermissible, still willing to kill as ‘a necessary evil,’ still willing to appease their conscience with justifications which fasten the tyranny of evil upon their souls. . . I have seen this [atrocities] and speak of it, not with sentimentality but with outrage and I will not permit it to be locked from your heart.”

This is a virtual meeting. Everyone who RSVPs will have a Zoom link messaged or emailed to them by Sunday morning.