WHAT IS A BRIGHT?

A bright is a person whose worldview is naturalistic - free of supernatural and mystical elements. A bright's ethics and actions are based on a naturalistic worldview. Agnostics, rationalists, skeptics, atheists, objectivists and anyone who is simply non-religious and without supernatural belief can call themselves brights.

The term was first coined by Paul Geisert and Mynga Futrell in Sacramento, California. They now have a Brights website

Two of the most prominent proponents of the "bright" concept are Richard Dawkins, British biologist, vocal atheist and currently Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science and Oxford University, and Daniel C. Dennett, American philosopher of science and current Austin F. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy at Tufts University. In 2003, Dawkins wrote articles on the new movement in The Guardian, while Dennett wrote one in the New York Times. Both articles can be seen here.

Some people who fit the definition of a bright object to the term, in part because it is an invented word rather than one which has grown up organically, and is therefore less likely to catch on. More signficantly, some believe that the word "bright" will be interpreted as implying that brights are more intelligent than non-brights, and so will be counter-productive in gaining acceptance and goodwill. This is not the sense in which the word is intended, though. It is intended to be positive, with associations to the Enlightenment. Dennett puts it thus: