The Humanist Community Blog

“Just Dynamite”, a friend describes Christiane Cook, an ardent activist since her early childhood and a vibrant addition to the Silicon Valley Humanist Community. Though she is easily approachable at Forums, a closer look at Christiane reveals unsurprising but undoubtedly intriguing depth to her rich history.

Born and raised in France by rather well-off, nonreligious French parents, Christiane was sent to a public school to sidestep the Roman Catholic influence of all local private schools. It was this time she spent with children clearly marked by poverty while she herself enjoyed a relatively comfortable life that led her to begin to take action. Much of her summer time was spent devoted to volunteering for Quaker organizations in an effort to aid refugees. While she was a teacher of philosophy, Christiane’s late nights were spent on ‘patrol’ as part of the underground movement to provide safe havens for persecuted Jews. She also worked to find ways for victims of an antisemitic culture to obtain gentile identification. Eventually, Christiane began to study international law on a scholarship to UC Berkeley. It was during this time that she became increasingly aware of the segregation obvious in her surroundings and the desperate situations that many Japanese-Americans found themselves in as they were sent to a life in internment camps. As is her wont, she began work with various organizations to close down several establishments notorious for their contribution to such prejudices. While teaching at San José University, she helped further the Sister Cities project, intended to create ‘sister’ cities: cordially collaborating cities in countries formerly locked in enmity.

Several years of effort in this movement then led into a new struggle, in which Christiane is still very much involved: the Innocence Project, whose work is to lessen the number of inmates convicted on the basis of false confessions attained through deceit and intimidation, is one of her most lively efforts. Working with the American Civil Liberties Union, she has developed several petitions to document all government interrogations by videotape, and has recently given a talk on that topic for the Humanist Community, where, she says, “People are extremely compassionate.”

Having returned to the Humanist Community about a year ago, Christiane speaks of raising awareness about these causes as one of her most worthwhile efforts within the Community and is rewarded with “signs that something is happening” and the knowledge that “any human cause is important to humanists”. In fact, she says the ACLU works well with the HC because of its continuous work with and for humans and humanitarian efforts. Personally, she says, she enjoys working within the Community herself and describes it as a “wonderful group”. She is enthusiastic about the Humanist Family Program (Sunday school) and any attempts to provide services in a humanist sphere, like ceremonies facilitated by the Humanist Community, for those who might seek sanctuary in rituals with no religious implications. The variation in weekly speakers at Forums and “knowing that something is going on” sound appealing to the recipient of an award for her “fiery defense of rights”. It seems that for Christiane, actions will always speak louder than words. In her words, “Information is not always directly leading into action. You have to take the next step.”

Filed under: Humanists