This month's speaker is Charles Sumner, founder of the Nashville Chapter of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. 

Charles has been a Nashville resident since 2000, having moved from Rochester, New York, where he was in the pharmaceutical industry. Prior to that he served in the United States Air Force. He is a graduate of Cornell University and member of Phi Kappa Sigma. He is married to Marjorie, and they have three grown children, two in Nashville and one in Massachusetts. One grandchild is local and four are young adults. He is a former elder in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and now attends a Unitarian Church. In Rochester he was for some years chair of the local Interfaith Impact (organized by the N.Y. State Council of Churches) for 60 Presbyterian churches and those of other progressive denominations in Genesee Ecumenical Ministries. He was a member of Monroe Citizens for Public Education and Religious Liberty, and he was also co-chair of the Monroe Coalition for Democracy and a founder of the Rochester Chapter Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

In his retirement in Nashville he started the Nashville Chapter of Americans United (now in its 20th year.) He has been a member of its National Leadership Council and is on its speaker's bureau. He is recipient of an award from the Tennessee Alliance for Progress and is a supporter of the Nashville L-Club and Nashville Peace and Justice Center. He believes with Thomas Jefferson "...that our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions, any more than our opinions in physics or geometry..." Equality before the law is essential to our democracy, and no one's religious beliefs should be used to harm our neighbors.

The League of Women Voters is a non-partisan volunteer organization that promotes engaged, informed, and active participation in government. Since the creation of the national organization 100 years ago — before women were ever guaranteed the right to vote — its programs and activities have focused not just on voting rights for all citizens, but the broader picture of civic engagement that includes everything from participating in the census to walking into the polling place for the first time. Learning more about public policies and issues allows members of the public to make informed decisions about the matters that impact their communities.

We will EMAIL the ZOOM link to all registrants on Tuesday, Feb. 16. If you register after Tuesday, when the link is emailed, you will be added to the waitlist. This means you may still attend, but you will get the link closer to the time the program is due to begin. Email paige.wilson@brentwoodtn.gov with any questions. 

You will need access to a computer with email. You will click on the link provided in the email to access the webinar. The zoom webinar is provided by the League of Women Voters and is not a library zoom account.