It is axiomatic for Ethical Culture that a good deed is better than a bad creed. This week, when the New York Society for Ethical Culturemother chapter of the nationwide American Ethical Unioncelebrates its 90th anniversary, it can take credit for enough good deeds to honor spiritual institutions ten times as big. Over the years, members have been responsible for creating the N.A.A.C.P., the American Civil Liberties Union, the Legal Aid Society, the Visiting Nurse Service, and the nation's first settlement house.
Ethical Culturists wince at being labeled atheists, but their basic...