So I did it. I finally decided to register as a Bright.
I was up late and looking at www.the-brights.net and the different comments by people who joined, and I decided I would too. I was happily surprised to see an entire section for people who join somewhat reluctantly.
The idea of declaring yourself as a Bright is that you are saying you believe in a natural (not supernatural) worldview. That's it. That's all I'm saying.
All the other possible baggage (being
a skeptic, atheist, agnostic, Darwinist etc.) fits under the umbrella term "A Bright".
Some people think the term "I'm a Bright" sounds arrogant. I see their point. But come on, saying "I'm a Bright" is not really the same as declaring "I'm a Super-Genius". That would be arrogant.
I guess I wanted to register as a Bright also to be for something, rather than announcing myself as excluding something. Saying "I'm an atheist" is kind of loaded, like declaring verbal war on another person's beliefs, because it's all about the disagreement. Being a Skeptic is kind of the same thing, because of the cynical overtones most people associate with it, (despite Skeptic magazine's definition as an embodiment of the scientific method). And saying I'm a neo-Darwinist doesn't help when discussing gluons or pulsars.
So I'm a Bright. Hopefully it's a bit more of a conversation starter at dinner parties than gluons and pulsars.
3 comments:
I'm going to look in this the Brights.net,I am an Atheist, but I have no reason to declare my self one(unless asked, Or more often than not, pervoked)What is your argument for being A Bright, orginized anything leads to rules, regulations and standards.( enough of witch I have at work) this is a major turn off from church or Religion in general.I choose to believe in my gut/heart, Is labeling myself a Bright putting me in a large group of people who may or may not entirely believe what I believe? would I have to accept the standards of being a Bright? I believe in surrounding myself with people of like minds, But I do not want to dedicate my self to a sole beliefe of someone else's design.
Glendon, I hate blogs, you can never get the true emotion in an e-mail, you are one of my best friends, I consider you family, I hope this does not sound arrogant. this is just Me trying to make sense of something I know nothing about.
Chris z
ps great site
Hey Chris,
Don't worry, you don't sound arrogant.
I think the idea behind the Brights is so that all the random atheists, agnostics, skeptics,naturalists, Darwinists, secularists, scientists, etc. will have a lobby group when government tries to shove religion down their throats.
The biggest problem facing all these people is that they are way too independent (as you are!) to be organised. But because religious people act like sheep, religious people can vote based on ancient books and superstition more effectively.
Saying you are a Bright only means you believe the world is formed by natural causes, & you don't believe in the supernatural. The reason to sign up is so that if there is a local politician in the area trying to say, block gay marriage, the Brights network may email you to sign a petition or go to a protest rally to stop the religious whackjob.
Thanks for looking at the blog. Call me if you want!
--Glendon
I'm glad you checked this blog, thanks for the clarification. I will call you so we an chat more about this after I see brights.net. Also, I checked out Russles tea pot, very cool, lots of info to process, i'll need some time to absorb it all.
I so glad you put this all together.
C
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Posts over 14 days old have their comments held in moderation - I've been getting an unusual amount of spam for a guy who paints trilobites. I'll release it lickety-split though.