Bright noun: Encyclopedia - Bright noun

Bright (noun)

The term bright, used as a noun, is a neologism invented by Paul Geisert in 2003 as a positive-sounding umbrella term to describe various kinds of people who have a naturalistic worldview. Mynga Futrell defined the word as follows:

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

The noun's meaning encompasses a startling spectrum of beliefs. Besides those persons who self-identify as atheists , agnostics , humanists , secular humanists, freethinkers, rationalists, naturalists, skeptics, the term can apply to persons who identify by preferred affiliations, such as Ethical Culturalists, Pantheists, Buddhists, Yogis, Wiccans, Transhumanists, Unitarians, and a gamut of folks (Jews, Catholics, Quakers, Episcopalians, Muslims) who maintain their religion’s cultural aspects but not its supernaturalism.

The idea has been publicized by Richard Dawkins in articles for The Guardian [1] and Wired [2], and by Daniel Dennett in the New York Times [3].

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. Some people have objected to the campaign on the grounds that they believe a usage such as gay 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 has a kinship with the Enlightenment, a time in history when the human impetus toward learning, audacity for free inquiry, and spirit of skepticism were highly valued.

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.

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

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Bright noun", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki