This is a “get acquainted” page for newcomers and prospective registrants.
It clarifies essential facets of the Brights movement.
Some portion of humanity consists of brights.
These brights form a general category of unspecified people (those individuals who fit the depiction). Thus, the label is best reserved for generic use and not applied to specific persons (unless, of course, those persons have adopted the characterization for themselves).
Antonym: A person who is not a bright is a super. That’s the noun term for someone whose worldview does incorporate supernatural/mystical element(s). In other words, a super's worldview is not naturalistic.
Individuals are either brights or supers (can’t be both). There are brights of all stripes and supers of all stripes – one humanity, one world.
Many individuals who are brights (by definition) wish to be "Brights" as well. They will say that the home page definition of “a bright” fits them to a T. They consider the overall conceptual depiction to accurately categorize them. Whether or not they self-identity by such a label, they know they are not supers, and they wish to say so.
A Bright is a bright who wishes to be counted as such.
Brights register into the constituency to add a person to the overall count and show their support for the stated egalitarian aims and principles of the movement.
Brights who register understand the Brights Movement to be a civic justice endeavor (not an anti-religious one).
…who propel “the Brights Movement”!
Brights who wish to contribute to this movement need to understand its aims and principles.
What [again] are this movement's aims?
The current priority of The Brights’ Network is to spread general awareness of the movement in ways that grow the Internet constituency whilst communicating the character and composition of its overall civic justice endeavor.
What are the movement’s principles?
The above link leads to a full listing of the principles (1-9) with a brief elucidation of each one. Below is a succinct overview.
Brights who wish to contribute to this movement will align their strategy with its aims and principles. Here are some examples of helpful strategy that concentrates on social acceptance and civic inclusion for brights of all stripes.
In seeking civic justice for themselves and their worldview, Brights acknowledge, whether eagerly or reluctantly, supers' rights to their own personally held worldviews.
Every person is born into, and develops in response to, conditions imposed by nature and society. One need not hold in high regard facets of another person’s worldview. One may, in fact, strongly disagree with varied or numerous elements of it and say as much. However, such disagreement/disapproval notwithstanding, personally or collectively disparaging supers as people is not likely to move brights toward social acceptance and civic inclusion. Brights who hope to accrue to themselves civic respect will need to accord to supers equivalent consideration.
Brights’ activism can focus on improving those societal conditions that nourish the development of naturalistic worldviews (particularly in youth). Likewise, they can concentrate on diminishing those circumstances that imperil the status and wellbeing of naturalistic worldviews (Brights have identified three priority arenas for action).
For wholesome interaction and association, each party can start by presuming the other to be a well-intentioned person with whom one can engage in civil exchange. Both brights and supers merit recognition as citizens and fellow human beings. Thus, each can be given due consideration by the other as likely to be upright and thoughtful people. Neither is to be socially denigrated or personally disadvantaged simply for being persons whose worldviews are differentially grounded. (Conduct is another matter - that which violates secular law, for example). The ideal is a fair foundation for all citizens, whatever their worldviews may be.
There has long been a need to address the conditions that undermine the social and civic status of brights. The Brights’ Net has, since its inception, espoused the joining together in common cause of those who operate from a naturalistic worldview basis, whatever their identity (atheists, humanists, skeptics, agnostics, etc.). A single organization is not likely to achieve the sort of world-changing aims set out for the Brights movement. However, cooperative endeavors with larger numbers of brights involved can expect to achieve much progress.
And what sort of consciousness raising might awaken supers to the value and necessity of civic inclusion for brights? This need not be the cause of brights alone. The Brights' Net welcomes the possibility of activist Brights working together with supers who have agendas of mutual interest. For example, it is not only brights who back the notion that public schools must provide sound education inclusive of a scientific understanding of the origins of the universe and the evolution of life on earth. Supers in many types of affiliations are committed to that issue, and to supporting and defending such principles as the complete separation of religion and government.