From: Calvin Ashmore (coa@andrew.cmu.edu)
Date: Mon Oct 13 2003 - 19:09:47 MDT
So, *technically*, the definition of "a Bright" is simply someone with a
naturalistic worldview. When many people here are claiming that they don't
support the Brights, I suppose this is to mean that you simply dislike using
the condescending moniker.
I don't dissapprove of the notion of fostering public acceptance for an
umbrella term like this, and while the term "Bright" has many unwanted
implications (from a public acceptance standpoint), the confrontational term
leads to public awareness of it.
Organizing athiests is like herding cats. Everyone is going their own way,
using their own system of philosophy, and attitude towards other religions.
And this varies from feelings of superiority, to bitterness and hostility,
to disregard, to acceptance. Some see placid spirituality as being just as
bad as militant evangelical fundamentalism.
Generally (that I've seen) athiests are very passionate about the exact
attitudes they have.
So, in my opinion, an umbrella term is needed for public acceptance and
recognition, yet, for it to serve as an appropriate umbrella term, there
needs to be an agreement among its constituents which is unlikely to come
easily.
I'd like to point out that while we may not all like the term "Brights", we
all almost certainly classify as Brights under Dawkins and Dennett's
definition. The term "Reasonables" is a good one, but I don't really have
complete confidence that every athiest is reasonable.
So this raises a few questions...
for one, would the best way to encourage acceptance of athiesm, naturalistic
worldviews, and the virtues of the CoV be to support the Brights, or to try
to not identify with them?
And also- do other religious organizations have these problems with the
attitudes of their members regarding other religions? Of course there is
variance over in the broad sense- but small churches and such things tend to
stick together pretty well (an assertion from my limited experience). Do we
need to hold bake sales? What should we do to strengthen the bonds in our
community? And as that is done here, perhaps it will gain momentum outside
the CoV...
We'll see :]
Take care, all
-Calvin
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