I'm pleased to announce that as president of Humanists of Utah I have been asked to serve On the Advisory Board of Utah's "Three R's "Project," a new initiative designed to increase public understanding of religious diversity. Our nation is founded on the principal that we must understand and respect our deepest difference if we are to have meaningful civil discourse and effective problem solving.

The Three R's Project will be funded by a $250,000 grant to the Utah State Office of Education from the George S, and Dolores Dorè Eccles Foundation. That grant will be used to teach teachers and schools how to teach about religion so that Utah students can build a sense of respect for peoples of all beliefs and non-beliefs. The Three R's (Rights, responsibility and Respect) Project, based on the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, will put together policies and practices that protect the religious liberty rights of students of all faiths and no faith. The project will work with teachers to help them learn how to teach about religions and cultures without proselytizing. The goal is education without indoctrination.

This is a major educational challenge and I appreciate being asked to represent the humanist philosophy in this project.

--Flo Wineriter