bright movement - The Skeptic's Dictionary

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class="container"> <div class="header"> <div class="logo"> <img src="_images/logo_01.png" alt="The Skeptic's Dictionary" width="270" height="60" border="0" />           <br /> by <a href="http://skepdic.com/refuge/bio.html">Robert Todd Carroll</a> * est. 1994 </div> <div class="slogan"> <img src="_images/slogan_01.gif" alt="A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions" width="362" height="30" /> </div> </div> <div class="menu"> <ul> <li></li><li><a href="http://skepdic.com/">Home</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/news/">Newsletter</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/feedback.html">Feedback</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/faq.html">FAQ & Interviews</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/tour.html">Site Map</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="middle"> <div class="left"> <h2>Topical Indexes</h2> <ul class="nav_1"> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/tialtmed.html">Alternatives to Medicine</a></li> <li><a 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href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#I">i</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#J">j</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#K">k</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#L">l</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#M">m</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#N">n</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#O">o</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#P">p</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#Q">q</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#R">r</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#S">s</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#T">t</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#U">u</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#V">v</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#W">w</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#X">x</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#Y">y</a></li> <li><a href="http://skepdic.com/contents.html#Z">z</a></li> </ul> <webContent><h1>bright (noun)</h1> <blockquote> <p class="quote">I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under god. -- George Herbert Walker Bush<a href="http://www.holysmoke.org/sdhok/aa011.htm">*</a></p> </blockquote> <p style="text-align: left"><font face="Arial" size="3">A bright is a person whose worldview is <a href="naturalism.html"> naturalistic</a>, that is, free of supernatural or mystical elements.<a href="http://www.the-brights.net/">*</a> The term was coined by Mynga Futrell and Paul Geisert, a pair of brights from Sacramento, California, who thought it would be sensible to adopt a common name for <a href="atheism.html">atheists</a>, <a href="agnosticism.html"> agnostics</a>, freethinkers, <a href="materialism.html">materialists</a>, rationalists, secular humanists, and <a href="skepticism.html">skeptics</a>.<a href="http://www.teachingaboutreligion.com/the_brights.htm">*</a> All these disparate groups share in common a naturalistic worldview. According to Futrell and Geisert:</font><blockquote> <p><font face="Arial" size="3">The simple noun bright gathers under the same umbrella a great diversity of persons who have a naturalistic worldview. Under this broad umbrella these people, as brights, can gain social and political power in a society infused with supernaturalism.<a href="http://www.the-brights.net/vision/word.html">*</a></font></blockquote> <p style="text-align: left"><font face="Arial" size="3">They also assert: "We cannot designate other people brights. Bright is a self-identifying term." The term is intended to be a pragmatic civic identity term rather than a philosophical belief term.</font><p style="text-align: left"> <font face="Arial" size="3">They invite anyone who wishes to be counted as a bright to <a href="http://www.the-brights.net/sign-up_sheet.htm">let them know.</a> As of February 2006, people from 138 different nations have identified themselves as brights.</font><p style="text-align: left"><font face="Arial" size="3">The term "bright" was chosen, according to Futrell and Geisert, for its positive emotive associations, which they hope will counteract all the negative terms that society-at-large uses to describe those who have no supernatural elements in their belief system. (Some of the terms that have been used at various times in various places to convey disapproval are: <i> atheist, heretic, infidel, non-believer, unbeliever, disbeliever, pagan, blasphemer, nonconformist, dissenter, apostate, defector, </i>and<i> fallen-away (Catholic, Jew, etc.).</i></font><p style="text-align: left"> <font face="Arial" size="3">Daniel Dennett has suggested that the opposite of a bright might be called a <a href="super.html"><i>super</i></a>, someone who holds a worldview that is characterized by supernatural or mystical elements.</font><p style="text-align: left"> <font face="Arial" size="3"><b> <a href="comments/brightscom.html">reader comments</a></b></font><p style="text-align: left"> <font face="Arial" size="3"><b>further reading</b></font><p style="text-align: left"> <b><font face="Arial" size="3">books</font></b><p style="text-align: left"><font face="Arial" size="3"> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0879752092/roberttoddcarrolA/"> Ingersoll, Robert G. (1983). <i>Best of Robert Ingersoll: Selections from His Writings and Speeches</i>. Prometheus Books.</a></font></p> <p style="text-align: left"><font face="Arial" size="3"> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0805077766/roberttoddcarrolA/"> Jacoby, Susan. (2005). <i>Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism</i>. Owl Books.</a></font></p> <p style="text-align: left"><font face="Arial" size="3"> <a href="http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/thomas_paine/age_of_reason/part1.html"> Paine, Thomas. (1794). <i>Age of Reason</i>.</a></font><p style="text-align: left"> <b><font face="Arial" size="3">websites</font></b><p style="text-align: left"><font face="Arial" size="3"> <a href="http://www.the-brights.net/vision/essays/futrell_geisert_who.html"> Who are the Brights? by Mynga Futrell and Paul Geisert</a></font><p style="text-align: left"><font face="Arial" size="3"><a href="http://www.the-brights.net/">The Brights Network</a></font><p style="text-align: left"> <font face="Arial" size="3"> <a href="http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,12084,981412,00.html"> The future looks bright</a> by Richard Dawkins (<i>The Guardian</i>, June 21, 2003)</font><p style="text-align: left"> <font face="Arial" size="3"> <i><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/12/opinion/12DENN.html">The Bright Stuff </a> </i>by Daniel C. Dennett (<i>New York Times</i>, July 12, 2003 </font> <p style="text-align: left"> <font face="Arial" size="3"> <a href="http://www.dangerousgames.com/~ironwolf/philosophy/bright-idea.html"> Tracking the Brights</a> Robert McNally's attempt to track "commentary both supporting and criticizing the brights movement"</font><p style="text-align: left"> <font face="Arial" size="3"> <a href="http://www.csicop.org/doubtandabout/brights/">Not Too "Bright</a>" by <span style="background-color: #FFFFFF">Chris Mooney </span>Oct. 15, 2003</font><p style="text-align: left"> <font face="Arial" size="3"> <a href="http://skeptic.com/brightBrouhaha.html">The Big “Bright” Brouhaha An Empirical Study on an Emerging Skeptical Movement </a>by <span style="background-color: #FFFFFF">Michael Shermer </span> </font> <p></webContent>Last updated 26-Oct-2015</p> </div> </div> <div class="right"> <div class="right_it"> <div class="search"> <form method="get" action="http://www.google.com/custom" target="_top"> <input type="hidden" name="domains" value="skepdic.com" /> <input type="text" name="q" maxlength="255" value="" size="20" /> <input type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" /> <br /> <div class="search_2"> <input type="radio" name="sitesearch" value="" /> Web     <input type="radio" name="sitesearch" value="skepdic.com" checked="checked" /> Skepdic.com <br /> <img src="_images/logo_google.gif" alt="Google" width="48" height="19" /> </div> <input type="hidden" name="client" value="pub-3542920166946725" /> <input type="hidden" name="forid" value="1" /> <input type="hidden" name="ie" value="ISO-8859-1" /> <input type="hidden" name="oe" value="ISO-8859-1" /> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="GALT:#008000;GL:1;DIV:#336699;VLC:663399;AH:center;BGC:FFFFFF;LBGC:336699;ALC:0000FF;LC:0000FF;T:000000;GFNT:0000FF;GIMP:0000FF;FORID:1;" /> <input type="hidden" name="hl" value="en" /> </form> </div> <div class="center"> <p align="right"><a href="http://skepdic.com/authorpage.html"><strong>Books by R. 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bright movement - The Skeptic's Dictionary - Skepdic.com