Okay, I'm Bright

This is the text of an essay I wrote some time ago. Because my methods may offend the Brights, I do not associate Scientism with them, but here is their website:

http://www.the-brights.net/

They are great people.

1-31-2010

It was fashionable in the latter decades of this last century, for gay people to “come out”; that is, publicly, and sometimes very bravely, to admit their homosexual orientation. In the first decades of this century, I would like to be part of a movement of secularists, atheists, and humanists “outing” ourselves with the same publicity and bravery. Necessarily, this movement must start with me.

The generic term bright is becoming parlance for those of us who hold a naturalistic, scientific worldview and have no supernatural elements in our thinking. All atheists, humanists, naturalists, and so on, can thus be termed bright.

Note that in this context, bright means that I am bright. It does not mean that others are dim (in the same way that being gay does not mean others are serious; or as sober does not mean that others are, well, unsober).

This bright coming out can be a serious business. Given that Americans hold atheists in lower esteem than Muslims, and that candidates for public office must pretend to some religious faith, being openly and publicly bright could prove hazardous to my health. But I think it’s time to challenge the sanctified status quo.

The final bit of data for this decision, the proverbial straw (although this one is more like a log) on the camel’s back, came just yesterday. I had learned of a wonderful dramatic rendition of Charles Darwin’s personal struggle with religion versus science: a movie called Creation.

This film (which is graced by the lovely Jennifer Connelly) has received rave reviews elsewhere in the English-speaking world, both for its artistic value and its intellectual stimulation. However, in the USA, Creation is almost unaccessible. To my knowledge it is being shown only in Boston, Los Angeles, and a few isolated places.

When I researched this strange phenomenon, I found direct evidence of censorship. Apparently this Christian Nation cannot stand the message of Creation, that is, the challenge of science to religion. On my back already laid heavy with the Islamic rape of Europe, “Jesus rifles”, and Israeli atrocities in Palestine, this straw was indeed a timber.

I already had rejected the supernatural, because there is no evidence for it, and because it leads people to gaze at their navels and to dwell on some indefinable “Energy”, rather than look to help the real world. I had adhered to reason and science, because the scientific method is the only thing keeping us from the Dark Ages.

Darkness is irrationality, superstition: the root of all evil. It is robbery, rape, and murder, all for the sake of words written in books. Religion is an orgy of human sacrifice, with a chorus of leering celibates, set to the music of wailing women and wandering orphans. Yet even this provoked me only to a stern critique.

However, when the religious powers censored Creation, they went over the line. They took my movie. Like a cherry on top of a sundae, this little act transformed me into an activist.

So okay, I’m bright. I have slain the gods. I have driven off all the fairies, and the garden is clearer for it. Now, how should I dwell in this demon-haunted world? I must first stand, and walk in the light.

If I detest all things irrational, then it behooves me to be mindful. If I claim to be bright, I need to shine.

Data locuta causa finita.