Oakland's Humanist Hall Declared a Nuisance by City

Oakland's Humanist Hall Declared a Nuisance After the city's ruling, supporters of Humanist Hall have been fighting back by way of an online petition

By Gillian Edevane, July 21, 2015

Supporters of Humanist Hall, a progressive church in Oakland, are rallying to save the church’s reputation after the city officially declared it a "public nuisance" in June. A petition urging the city to remove the “nuisance” label has already received more than 1450 signatures from church advocates and members of the Oakland community.

The 27th street Humanist church, which was established in 1935 and is also known as the Fellowship of Humanity, doubles as a performing arts venue and regularly hosts private parties and community events. In the past, it’s been the location for public meetings, art shows, weddings, birthday parties and nonprofit meetings. As a Humanist organization, members of the church are generally nontheistic and stress the importance of living an ethical life without supernaturalism. Humanist Hall states that it is specifically devoted to social justice, equality and ecological preservation. 

According to the Humanist Hall website and several of its members, the church provides a low-cost, rentable venue to underserved members of the community and is an asset to Oakland’s diverse spiritual and artistic groups. But according to several neighbors who have posted videos of the venue’s music on YouTube, the Hall is often the site of parties that result in neighborhood and noise disturbances.

Gregory Minor, assistant to the city administrator, said in an email to the Express that the city has been receiving complaints about Humanist Hall since “at least 2005,” and that “the complaints have consisted mostly of excessive noise.”

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