From: Jef Allbright (jef@jefallbright.net)
Date: Sat Jul 12 2003 - 09:07:56 MDT
An Op-Ed piece by Daniel Dennett today in the New York times is worth
sharing on this list.
The time has come for us brights to come out of the closet. What is a
bright? A bright is a person with a naturalist as opposed to a
supernaturalist world view. We brights don't believe in ghosts or elves or
the Easter Bunny - or God. We disagree about many things, and hold a variety
of views about morality, politics and the meaning of life, but we share a
disbelief in black magic - and life after death.
The term "bright" is a recent coinage by two brights in Sacramento, Calif.,
who thought our social group - which has a history stretching back to the
Enlightenment, if not before - could stand an image-buffing and that a fresh
name might help. Don't confuse the noun with the adjective: "I'm a bright"
is not a boast but a proud avowal of an inquisitive world view.
You may well be a bright. If not, you certainly deal with brights daily.
That's because we are all around you: we're doctors, nurses, police
officers, schoolteachers, crossing guards and men and women serving in the
military. We are your sons and daughters, your brothers and sisters. Our
colleges and universities teem with brights. Among scientists, we are a
commanding majority. Wanting to preserve and transmit a great culture, we
even teach Sunday school and Hebrew classes. Many of the nation's clergy
members are closet brights, I suspect. We are, in fact, the moral backbone
of the nation: brights take their civic duties seriously precisely because
they don't trust God to save humanity from its follies.
Entire article at http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/12/opinion/12DENN.html
- Jef (All-bright)
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