Reader Robert McNally has informed me that he maintains a site, Tracking the Bright Idea", so those interested in tracking debate about the Bright meme can do so here. Thanks to Robert for that.
One word of caution: quite a large number of sites and blogs are represented at Tracking the Bright Idea, with associated comments, so you'll need an authoritative taxonomy of logical fallacies to identify and keep track of those you'll find. And you'll find a lot. On the other hand, it would make a good exercise for a logic class, and plenty of material is presented there if you care to analyze it (it seemed to me that ad hominem was the most frequently employed).
I still prefer the term "atheist," because it is more specific and more narrowly defined--but that's just the point, I think: "bright" is a public relations exercise, an encouragement, as Richard Dawkins wrote here, to encourage more people to come out, to identify themselves openly as ones adhering to a naturalistic worldview. So I still like "bright." The term doesn't do the job I expect "atheist" to do, but it's inspired a lot of debate--which means interest.
Posted by Craig Ceely at July 29, 2003 12:03 PMThe scorn and defensiveness that the term raises at first had me convinced that the term had a decent shot at success. If people really just thought it was silly, they'd ignore it.
But I must admit to becoming a bit depressed. Even though I endorsed the concept and do still like it, the criticism and lengthy rebuttals--all based mostly on what I consider to be logical fallacies--are very tiresome.
Only one argument seems to have any real staying power: "Using this term makes you seem arrogant." Okay, so it's incumbent upon those who use the term not to act arrogant, and to acknowledge that there are intelligent people who are religious believers. We can think they're wrong without thinking they're stupid; indeed, you'd have to be mighty dim to think that that C.S. Lewis or Augustine were idiots. Wrong? Perhaps, but stupid, certainly not.
Those who use the term should just bear in mind that this is, clearly, the #1 impediment to its acceptance.
Posted by: Dean Esmay at August 2, 2003 10:54 PM