Brights movement

From Free net encyclopedia

Image:Bright Icon.gif The brights movement is a movement that has grown up around the idea of encouraging the use of the word bright as a noun. The idea of this neologism, which was invented by Paul Geisert in 2003, is that it should be a positive-sounding umbrella term to describe various kinds of people who have a naturalistic worldview. Mynga Futrell defined the word as follows:

A bright is a person whose worldview is naturalistic - free of supernatural and mystical elements. A bright's ethics and actions are based on a naturalistic worldview.

1 Basis of the idea
2 Criticisms
3 The Brights
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

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Basis of the idea

Geisert intended his noun coinage to allude to humanity's illumination during the Age of Enlightenment, an optimistic era when science and reason seemed to offer the key to the future.

The idea has been publicized by Richard Dawkins in articles for The Guardian<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and Wired<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>, and by Daniel Dennett in the New York Times<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>.

Part of the inspiration to seed a positively laden term came from the modern usage of the word gay to mean homosexual. The project borrows heavily from the theory of memes.

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Criticisms

Some people have objected to the campaign on the grounds that they believe a usage such as bright must arise organically, rather than through deliberate creation, if it is to stick.

Others (both religious and non-religious) have objected to the term because they read it as implying that the non-religious are more intelligent ("brighter") than the religious. (In his Wired article, Dawkins states "Whether there is a statistical tendency for brights (noun) to be bright (adjective) is a matter for research.") For subsequent research, see Religiousness and intelligence.

Geisert and Futrell staunchly maintain that from day one the neologism had a kinship with the Enlightenment, a time in history when the human impetus toward learning, science, free inquiry, and a spirit of skepticism were highly valued.

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The Brights

Geisert and Futrell co-direct an internet network of "Brights" (the upper case usage indicates registration into a constituency with specified aims). The Brights' Net has continuously grown and currently now includes individuals in 138 nations of the world. Persons declaring their naturalistic worldview extend well beyond the familiar secularist categories. Registrations include ex-Mormons and ex-Pentecostals (and other sorts of “ex-es”) as well as clergy in and out of practice (several UU ministers, Presbyterian ministers, a Church History Professor/ordained priest, an ex-Benedictine monk/priest, and an ex-Lutheran minister). Brights' Local Constituencies are found in London, Paris, and several cities in Canada and the United States.

The Brights' Network has a website that serves as the hub of communication and action projects in a civic justice movement. It has three major purposes: (1) Promote the civic understanding and acknowledgment of the naturalistic worldview, which is free of supernatural and mystical elements; (2) Gain public recognition that persons who hold such a worldview can bring principled actions to bear on matters of civic importance; and (3) Educate society toward accepting the full and equitable civic participation of all such individuals.

The Brights' Net states that it is not an anti-religious organization in either principle or action, and that it is working through educational means to create a level social and civic playing field for individuals, whether their worldviews are naturalistic or include supernaturalism.

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