The BrightsA friend recently sent me this link to, well, an organisation I suppose called The Brights. I'm going to link this website again because it is important that you read it, otherwise my post won't make any sense. Linkety Link McLink
For those of you not going to click any of those links (70%) and those of you who clicked the link and went back to Party Poker after reading the first paragraph (30%), The Brights are people who don't believe in gods, ghosts, the tooth fairy or Eddie McGuire. Atheists? Nooo. "A bright's worldview is free of supernatural and mystical elements". They're not atheist, they just don't believe in God.
The logo looks like the last thing a World War II sailor saw before a Japanese Zero plowed into his ship. It isn't something you can hang from your neck to express your, ahem, chaste purity, or burn in the neighbour's front yard. I'm not sure about the name either, it does have an pompous air to it. On second thoughts, maybe it doesn't. Maybe I only consider it to be pompous because we are conditioned to look down upon "bright" people. I had to chuckle when I read that they wanted to be the new gay. Not that there's anything wrong with that. A lot of my best friends are Bright. Yeah...
I am an atheist, but am I a Bright? I match all the criteria on the front page, therefore I am a Bright. The website is very clear, I have no choice in this. I can't choose to be a Bright, I am a Bright! You know, being a Bright isn't so bad. I feel like regular me, only more enlightened. I started to imagine this group being full of people just like me, and then I came across this gem...
The constituency of Brights is hugely diverse. Besides those who self-identify as atheist, humanist, secular humanist, freethinker, rationalist, naturalist, agnostic, or skeptic, there are individuals who go by their preferred affiliations, such as Ethical Culturalist, Pantheist, Buddhist, Yogi, Wiccan, Transhumanist, or Unitarian.
Wiccan? hahahaha. Transhumanist? hahahaha. Buddhist? Never trust a religion that doesn't have a god.
I have nothing against The Brights, in fact I must admit that this "movement" appeals to me. I'm proud that atheism is standing up for itself, even if it doesn't like to use the A word. Will I sign up as a Bright? I don't know. I'm tempted, after all I am better than all of you and this is a great way for you to know it. Affiliations to groups like this in your youth have a way of coming back to haunt you later in life when you're running for Secretary-General of the UN.
Besides, I would never join any club that would have someone like me for a member anyway.
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I think you forgot the most popular religion of the last 5 years - Scientology. Who's the God in that? Tom Cruise? L. Ron Hubbard? Who? It's so secretive that it's a wonder why we even know that it exists. Or maybe this is why you left it out. To join the secrecy race.
I'm just happy to support anything that promotes reason and logic. We don't really need it her to the extent they do in America - it's basically a way for American atheists to not be instantly discriminated against by their fellow hordes of theists (read ignorant god-fearing yanks). It's also kind of a way to trick them into talking about atheistic principles, which is funny.
As for the name, the Bright officialdom strongly points out ways in which they would prefer the word to be used by its members, and that it's not a condescending descriptor of their members level of intelligence over non-members. One then wonders how they came up with the term then... if they were really worried about that, they could've called it anything else. I for one would defend the notion of atheists being more cogniscent than theists, because by definition theists openly throw reason out the window (read "faith") - if the dunce cap fits, i say.
As for "religious" people still being Brights, apparently these members simply hold with some of the traditions and teachings of their religion, but don't accept the theistic or supernatural side. One then wonders how they can define themselves as being part of that religion, as most religions specify that you MUST believe in those things to call yourself a member, but anyway... people taking what little good they can from religion and leaving the dogma and bullshit to the sheep is a good thing (they just probably shouldn't identify themselves so much with their religion, as even moderates lend a support base and power to that religion).
It's also a little weak how they try to brush such "tarnished" terms as "atheist" and "humanist" under the rug, instead of staunchly defending them, but i guess some yanks got sick of beating their heads against that particular wall (and i can identify, even in "enlightened" Australia) and basically that's why a new term exists. A little too non-confrontational maybe, not quite the burning wrath of the strong atheists we'd hoped for, but a step in the right direction i think... and great to see coming out of America, of all places (maybe the fact that we don't need such a movement so much here is heartening, but then maybe we just haven't got BAD enough yet).
I just became a Bright. Indeed, I stumped into this blog doing research on brights, and the posting above came out. I like this blog, so I have decided to join. Seems quite non-religious to me ... Maybe our blog-master should start a blog posting on the topic (i.e. God(s) versus the guy next door)
I'm not much of a joiner. Being a anarchist sort of prohibits me from joining anything so I must make an anonymous cowardly post.
I'm an atheist. I looked at the Bright site and skimmed through all of it. Interesting. Seems more like a few folks may be angry at a god they don't believe exists. That's like getting angry at Pinochio. Anyway, I'm really having trouble understanding why atheists should be renamed since we've already got a perfectly good label.
In general life here in America, it's good to have a religion. I live in a small Midwestern town where there is a Christian church for every 45th person. I claim buddhism when asked why I don't go to church. It allows me to function in a very spiritual society. I'm seen as something of a crackpot but since I seem to have a faith, I can function without difficulty. Were I to claim Atheism, I'd be cut off from goods and services. These riteous folks would probably burn my house down or some kind of other morally just insanity. Yep, I'll be a buddhist. My contract in this lovely little hamlet will be expired in about a month and a half and I'll go back home to Los Angeles where I can be an Atheist. Or maybe I'll be a buddhist. The robes are cool! I don't want to shave my head because it's kind of lumpy.
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