Of Brights and Scarlet Letters

Since I’ve become so very popular for espousing my (questionably militant) atheist views, I thought I might write a short post about a couple of social movements that I’ve come across in my quest for a personally satisfying anti-religion.

The first would be the Brights movement, founded in 2003 by Paul Geisert and Mynga Futrell, members of the American Humanist Association. Their general idea was to create a universal name for people who hold in a purely naturalist worldview. In much the same way that the word “homosexual” holds a neutral or negative connotation in the minds of the general public, words or terms associated with nontheistic beliefs may be considered neutral (e.g. “agnostic”, “humanist” or “freethinker”) to downright negative (e.g. “atheist” or “skeptic”). The term “gay”, however, was historically a positive word that became adopted as a euphemism for homosexual. Geisert and Futrell chose to adopt a similar term to describe nontheists: “Bright”.

Since its coinage, the term has been met with support from a wide range of atheists, including Richard Dawkins himself. Its positive connotation has been bolstered by its symbolic, pseudo-spiritual connection to the Enlightenment, an age that embodied so many of the traits that the modern movement represents.

To be fair, the term “bright” has also been the target of criticism from both sides of the religion debate. Upon hearing about the Brights movement, Christopher Hitchens expressed a deep concern that the term sounded “conceited”. In my not-so-humble opinion, “bright” inspires a well-deserved elevation of morale. If I were concerned about pride preceding a fall, I would have stayed in parochial school.

Other critics have made the point that “bright” necessarily implies that Brights are more intelligent than believers. This would be true if Brights were arrogant enough to call religious believers “dull”. As the philosopher Daniel Dennett quipped, “Those who are not gays are not necessarily glum; they're straight. Those who are not brights are not necessarily dim.” Dennett has suggested that theists be called “super” — short for “supernatural” — a term that has been officially endorsed by Geisert and Futrell.

The other notable social movement that I came across is the Out campaign, started by Richard Dawkins as an initiative to promote the positive image of atheism and Freethought in the public. The campaign draws inspiration from the Gay Rights movement and the idea of “coming out” to one’s family and friends. If anyone has heard of the Rational Response Squad’s “Blasphemy Challenge”, this is essentially a similar idea on a more personal level. Recruits are called to reach out, speak out, keep (religion) out, and stand out in an effort to raise public awareness of atheism. In an ironic twist, the Out movement has adopted a scarlet, stylized capital ‘A’ as its insignia (for “Atheism”, I suppose).

These are, of course, only two movements in a changing social climate. Whether or not you identify as a Bright or wear a scarlet letter on your clothing, there is a revolution going on, and we’re all a part of it.

http://outcampaign.org
http://www.the-brights.net