Brights
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Brights is a group that was started by Paul Geisert and Mynga Futrell to make a name that sounds good for people who have views on life based on nature (naturalistic worldviews). They did not like that names like "atheist" and "non-believer" sounded bad to some people and they wanted a word that sounded better to these people.
Paul Geisert chose the word "bright." Mynga Futrell says a bright is a person who has views on life that are free of more-than-natural (supernatural) ideas. She says these persons' morals come from their views on life.
[edit] Well-known brights
- Richard Dawkins
- Daniel Dennett
- Penn Jillette and Teller
- James Randi
- Richard Roberts
- Michael Shermer
[edit] Criticism
Some people, both religious and non-religious, have problems using the word "bright" this way. They believe it suggests that people with views on life based on nature are smarter than those with other views on life. This is not the reason for the name, which is tries to show that people with views based on nature are "looking on the bright side" of life.
[edit] External links
- The Brights' Net – The originating hub of the Brights' Constituency
- Brights' Movement Forums
- Brights Online – a brights' activist website
- Who Are The Brights? – by the co-founders of the Brights' Net
- The Bright Stuff – Daniel Dennett in the New York Times, 12 July 12 2003
- A Bright New World – Erik Strand in Psychology Today, Jan/Feb 2004
- Not Too "Bright" - a review of the term 'bright' by Chris Mooney for CSICOP
