The Third Annual Edwin H. Wilson Memorial Lecture will be held on Thursday, March 2, 1995, and the President of the American Humanist Association (AHA), Michael Werner of Chicago, is the featured speaker. The title of his lecture is "Humanist Morality in a Post-Modern World." The program will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Chapel of the First Unitarian Church of Salt Lake City.

Ed Wilson was the founder, Executive Director, and guiding spirit of the American Humanist Association (AHA) for most of its existence; served as Unitarian minister in Salt Lake City from 1946 to 1949; in 1991, established the local Chapter of the AHA, the Humanists of Utah; and was responsible for beginning its Journal, The Utah Humanist. He died on March 26th, 1993, and this lecture series was established in 1992 to honor his accomplishments.

Bette Chambers, past President of AHA, advisor to several AHA Presidents, and a long time personal friend of Mr. Wilson, dedicated the following remarks to his memory:

Ed called his humanism evolutionary naturalism. He was inexorably opposed to any form of supernaturalism and to any watering-down of the Humanist message to include theism or god-beliefs in any form. He held that Humanism could be both a religion and a philosophy--but always left that decision to the individual. However, if a religion, then humanism must be a non-theistic religion, or else it is nothing more than an amorphous modern form of humanitarianism.

Humanism's specific disavowal of god and the supernatural, placing morals and ethics squarely in the hands of human beings was to Ed an irreducible tenet of modern humanism, without which its whole meaning would be lost. He said of humanism: "It is an ideal whose time has come." And he spent his long life working on its behalf.

Chapter members should note that the lecture takes place on the first Thursday of March, not the usual 2nd Thursday, a change necessary to obtain this excellent speaker. This is the premier event of the year for the Chapter, and all members are urged to attend to hear the President of our parent organization who will present a message of importance to all humanists.

--Flo Wineriter