Changes

==Brights Movement==

==Brights Movement==

[[Image:Richard_Dawkins.jpg‎|thumbnail|200px|right|[[Richard Dawkins]] is listed as an enthusiastic ''bright'' by the [[Brights Movement]] website.]]

[[Image:Richard_Dawkins.jpg‎|thumbnail|200px|right|[[Richard Dawkins]] is listed as an enthusiastic ''bright'' by the [[Brights Movement]] website.]]

The [[Brights Movement]] was started in 2003 by Paul Geisert and Mynga Futrell in 2003 in order to assist in the advocacy of a [[Naturalism|naturalistic worldview]].<ref name="fa">http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2843/is_2_28/ai_114090211/pg_1</ref><ref>http://www.the-brights.net/vision/faq.html#1</ref> The Brights movement had a media campaign and was announced in ''Wired'' magazine (by evolutionary biologist [[Richard Dawkins]]), ''Free Inquiry'' (by Richard Dawkins), and on the ''[[New York Times]]'' op-ed page (by the philosopher and atheist Daniel Dennett).<ref name="fa"/> However, according to a 2004 ''Skeptical Enquirer'' article the "Brights label reinforced a longstanding stereotype."<ref>http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2843/is_2_28/ai_114090211/pg_1</ref> The article stated the following: "Atheists already have a terrible rap for being coldhearted [[Rationalism|rationalists]] who attend [[Mensa]] gatherings and dismiss religious believers as simple-minded fools."<ref>http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2843/is_2_28/ai_114090211/pg_1</ref> In October of 2003 in a article in the ''[[Guardian]]'' Dawkins associated being a "bright" with being an intellectual.<ref>http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,12084,981412,00.html</ref>

The [[Brights Movement]] was started in 2003 by [[Paul Geisert]] and [[Mynga Futrell]], to assist in the advocacy of a [[Naturalism|naturalistic worldview]].<ref name="fa">[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2843/is_2_28/ai_114090211/pg_1 Not too 'bright'L: Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett are smart guys, but their campaign to rename religious unbelievers Brights could use some rethinking (Page 1)]</ref><ref>[http://www.the-brights.net/vision/faq.html#1 Bright (n.)--What is the definition?]</ref> The movement had a media campaign and was announced in ''[[Wired magazine]]'' (by [[Richard Dawkins]]), ''Free Inquiry'' (by Richard Dawkins), and the ''[[New York Times]]'' op-ed page (by [[Daniel Dennett]]).<ref name="fa"/> However, according to a 2004 ''Skeptical Enquirer'' article, the "Brights label reinforced a longstanding stereotype."<ref name="fa"/> The article stated the following: "Atheists already have a terrible rap for being coldhearted [[Rationalism|rationalists]] who attend [[Mensa]] gatherings and dismiss religious believers as simple-minded fools."<ref name="fa"/> In October of 2003, in a article by the ''[[Guardian]]'' Dawkins associated being a "bright" with being an intellectual.<ref>[http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,12084,981412,00.html The future looks bright - The Guardian]</ref>

Chris Mooney wrote in his Skeptical Enquirer article the following:

Chris Mooney states in his ''Skeptical Enquirer'' article:

{{cquote|..a recent attack on the Brights movement in The Wall Street Journal by the conservative thinker [[Dinesh D'Souza]] confirms my worst fears (D'Souza 2003). The article blithely ignores a key caveat that the Brights defenders have explicitly laid out-namely, that the label isn't meant to suggest that religious doubters are smarter than everyone else. But I actually think this misrepresentation ought to be blamed more on Dennett, Dawkins, and the original founders than on [[Dinesh D'Souza|D'Souza]]--for reasons I will explain.

{{cquote|..a recent attack on the Brights movement in The Wall Street Journal by the conservative thinker [[Dinesh D'Souza]] confirms my worst fears (D'Souza 2003). The article blithely ignores a key caveat that the Brights defenders have explicitly laid out-namely, that the label isn't meant to suggest that religious doubters are smarter than everyone else. But I actually think this misrepresentation ought to be blamed more on Dennett, Dawkins, and the original founders than on [[Dinesh D'Souza|D'Souza]]--for reasons I will explain.

In his original New York Times op-ed announcing the Brights label, Dennett wrote, "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." That's certainly nice in principle. But who did Dennett think he was kidding? How could anyone hear the label Bright and think anything but that atheists were claiming to be smarter than everyone else? As [[ABC News|ABC]] commentator John Allen Paulos remarked of the Brights campaign, "I don't think a degree in public relations is needed to expect that many people will construe the term as smug, ridiculous, and arrogant" (Paulos 2003).<ref>http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2843/is_2_28/ai_114090211/pg_2</ref>}}

In his original New York Times op-ed announcing the Brights label, Dennett wrote, "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." That's certainly nice in principle. But who did Dennett think he was kidding? How could anyone hear the label Bright and think anything but that atheists were claiming to be smarter than everyone else? As [[ABC News|ABC]] commentator John Allen Paulos remarked of the Brights campaign, "I don't think a degree in public relations is needed to expect that many people will construe the term as smug, ridiculous, and arrogant" (Paulos 2003).<ref>[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2843/is_2_28/ai_114090211/pg_2 Not too 'bright'L: Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett are smart guys, but their campaign to rename religious unbelievers Brights could use some rethinking (Page 2)]</ref>}}

==New Atheism==

==New Atheism==