American Ethical Union / Ethical Culture Society
Secular humanist religious organisation founded by Felix Adler (1876). Very low-control reference.
CLCI radar
BITE breakdown
0 — secular humanist religious organisation; very low-control.
Profile facts
In context
Ethical Culture is a secular humanist religion founded by Felix Adler in New York City (1876). 'Deed before creed' principle. Voluntary participation; very low-control.
Recovery resources
- ICSA (International Cultic Studies Association) — General referral and cult-aware therapist directory.
- INFORM (Information Network on Religious Movements) — LSE-founded UK research-based information service covering new religious movements.
- Freedom of Mind Resource Center — Steven Hassan's organisation; BITE-model resources and family-side exit guidance.
See the full curated list at /resources.
This profile is in progress — history, deeper BITE evidence and survivor voices are still being added. Contributions welcome via GitHub.
Timeline
- 1876Founded by Adler in NYC
Evidence matrix
Structured sources cross-linked to the claims they document. Tiered per the source hierarchy. For free-text citations see the Sources section below.
| Title | Type | Reliability | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Anti-Israel Craze Hits High School. | Journalism | Secondary | — |
| Elite N.Y. Prep School Fires Teacher Who Posted anti-Zionist Tweets | Journalism | Secondary | — |
| Accusations and Rancor as Elite School's Leader Departs · archive | Journalism | Secondary | — |
| Ethical Culture Fieldston School records | Academic | Secondary | — |
Sources
- Various academic studies search ↗
- The Anti-Israel Craze Hits High School. — https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/16/opinion/antisemitism-college.html open ↗
- Elite N.Y. Prep School Fires Teacher Who Posted anti-Zionist Tweets — https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/elite-n-y-prep-school-fires-teacher-who-posted-anti-zionist-tweets-1.8381471 open ↗
- Accusations and Rancor as Elite School's Leader Departs — https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/12/nyregion/ethical-culture-fieldston-school-principal.html open ↗
- Ethical Culture Fieldston School records — http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/nyhs/ms3042_ethical_culture_fieldston/ open ↗
We cite sources by name and outlet rather than fabricating links. Where a source includes its own URL, the open ↗ link opens it directly; otherwise search ↗ runs a Google Scholar query for the cited title — useful for verifying academic sources. For news outlets, search the outlet's own archive.
Change history
Substantive edits logged per the score-updates policy.
- 2026-05-29Phase 1 Batch J: per-group recovery resources applied via programmatic palette (closest-fit by category + subCategory + score). Palette: Mainstream-comparator lighter.
- 2026-05-20Source-density flags derived from existing free-text sources[]: academic sources. Heuristic auto-flag; subsequent editorial pass will populate structuredSources[] with reliability tiers.
- 2026-05-20Score band scheme migrated from 4 bands to 5 (Minimal 0–5 / Low 6–12 / Moderate 13–20 / High 21–30 / Extreme 31–40). No CLCI value changed; the new Minimal band was carved out of the bottom of the previous Low band.
Relevant hubs
Curated entry points on CLCI Hub for situations connected to this group.
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Found something wrong on this profile?
We accept correction requests from anyone — current and former members, researchers, journalists, family members, and the listed organisation. Submissions are reviewed by an editor; we do not auto-publish.