On Sunday, March 22nd, we’ll welcome Fish Stark, Executive Director of the American Humanist Association (AHA), to UU Santa Monica to speak at our Sunday service.
Based on Washington D.C., and with more than 30,000 members and 250 chapters and affiliate groups across the country, the AHA is the principal organization in the United States promoting Secular Humanism. Its work includes legal assistance to defend the constitutional rights of secular and religious minorities, lobbying Congress on church-state separation and other issues, helping its local groups engage in social activism and community-building, and publications such as The Humanist. Recent past recipients of the organization’s Humanist of the Year Award include Amy Goodman, Anthony Fauci, Salman Rushdie, Barney Frank, Gloria Steinem, and Bill Nye, to name a few.
Many people who follow progressive causes may be familiar with the work of the AHA, but it is perhaps less well-known that the organization has deep Unitarian roots. It was founded in 1941 by Unitarian Ministers Curtis Reese and John H. Dietrich, and was an outgrowth of the original group of Unitarians, Universalists, academics and others who founded the modern humanist movement in Chicago in the 1920s. (Some of the members of that early humanist movement were influential in the founding of this congregation in 1927.)
Today, many UUs continue to be Humanists, and many Humanists find their spiritual home in UU congregations, but Fish is the first Executive Director of the organization in a long time who is himself a lifelong Unitarian Universalist. Fish is interested in strengthening the ties between organized Humanism and UU congregations during this time when we are joined in an ongoing struggle — for our shared values and against rising authoritarianism and white Christian nationalism. And to that end he is also a board member of the UU Humanist Association.
An additional biographical footnote about Fish is his family connection to Unitarian Universalism and Humanism — he is the son of the late Representative Pete Stark (D-CA), who served in Congress for 40 years and is remembered for his progressive advocacy against unjust war and for access to healthcare. Pete Stark was a self-identified Unitarian Universalist himself, and was also the first member of congress to “come out” and a non-theist.
Fish’s guest sermon is entitled:
The People Right in Front of Us
“This month’s theme is paying attention — and humanism is, at its core, a practice of presence. A choice to focus on the world we can see, the neighbors we can reach, the suffering we can actually reduce. Fish Stark, Executive Director of the American Humanist Association and a lifelong Unitarian Universalist, celebrates the shared roots of humanism and Unitarian Universalism and invites us to rediscover the radical joy of choosing people over abstractions and outcomes over ideals.”
After the service, he will stay to answer questions and to talk a bit more with interested folks about the current work of the American Humanist Association.
More about Fish from his AHA Bio:
Fish Stark is an organizer, educator, social entrepreneur, and lifelong humanist. Fish has spent his career turning big ideas into bold action in service of belonging, flourishing, and social justice for all people.
Prior to joining the AHA as Executive Director, Fish was the Head of Program + Curriculum at Legends, an educational technology startup, where he led research and implementation teams to create products that helped children build self-confidence, positive mental health, and critical thinking skills.
Previously, Fish served as the Director of Programs at Peace First, a global nonprofit that provides training and funding to youth social justice activists, where he led a global team of organizers who empowered thousands of youth grantees in 140+ countries to make lasting change in their communities, and worked with organizations such as the Red Cross and Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation to develop youth leadership programs.
Fish’s other professional experiences include managing progressive political campaigns, leading a mentorship program in the West Virginia coalfields with the American Friends Service Committee, building a nationally recognized peer-to-peer bullying prevention program, and teaching students from pre-school to high school.
A self-proclaimed developmental psychology nerd who is passionate about giving everyone the tools to live lives of meaning, service, and self-determination, Fish holds a Master’s in Education with a concentration in child development and psychology from Harvard University, and a Bachelor’s from Yale University with a certificate in Education Studies. While at Yale, Fish served as a student board member of the Yale Humanist Community and received a Dean’s Prize for his work to build a stronger relationship between Yale and New Haven.
