• [groups|St. Louis, University of Missouri-Columbia]

Brights light naturalistic view
Movement places its faith in empirical evidence.

 By SETH ASHLEY of the Tribune’s staff

The power of religious movements can leave people who don’t subscribe to mainstream beliefs feeling helpless, isolated and even disparaged. Now there’s an organization that aims to gather together the minority group whose worldview prefers the natural to the supernatural and relies heavily on empirical evidence as a way of knowing the world.

 No, they’re not pagans. They’re called the Brights, an umbrella group for all sorts of people - not just atheists - who put their faith in the natural world, or one free of supernatural or mystical elements. Their ethics and actions are based on that naturalistic view. The growing international movement describes itself as an Internet-based constituency, but it boasts self-identified members in 138 countries, including 150 in Columbia.

For now, the Missouri Brights is primarily a student organization at the University of Missouri-Columbia, although the group also consists of a few faculty members and local citizens. The Brights cater to a wide range of people with a variety of philosophical viewpoints.

"The biggest misconception I’ve had to deal with is that we’re all atheists," said Will Morris, the president and founder of the local group. "There’s a whole gamut of people, and it’s by no means limited to atheists. We’re an umbrella group encompassing a variety of philosophical identities: secularist, humanist, materialist, objectivist, existentialist, Taoist, Buddhist, naturalist - the list goes on."

There are even Christian and Jewish Brights who value the philosophical and cultural aspects of their mainstream religions but reject supernatural ideas, said Morris, a 24-year-old Mizzou student who is pursuing his second undergraduate degree. Morris founded the Missouri Brights after being inspired by two of his favorite living thinkers, Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett, both Brights supporters.

"I’ve always defined my worldview as a naturalistic one," said Morris, who is quick to point out that the group is far more than a reactionary attack on organized religion. "We are not an anti-religious group in principle or action, but in my personal belief, there are supernatural qualities associated with most religions that I don’t embrace."

On some levels, the Brights look like nothing more than a warm and fuzzy home for all those marginalized folks who don’t mesh with mainstream religion. In that way, the Brights are more a civil rights movement than a religious one. But it’s not surprising - or problematic - that the Brights also have political motives.

"Once we get enough people to sign up, our hope is that we can exert some civic and political influence," Morris said.

Founded around 2003 by a pair of academics, the national Brights organization estimates there might be as many as 30 million potential Brights, which as a united front could have a considerable effect on public opinion and public policy. Morris’ local group has ventured into the policy ring, expressing support for stem cell research and the separation of church and state, especially concerning teaching intelligent design in public schools.

But the Brights aim to serve a larger purpose than simply acting as a counterweight to religious fundamentalism. As a movement, the group hopes to a level social and civic playing field for all people, no matter their worldviews.

Surely the idea that mainstream religions are based in the supernatural world will offend some, just as the name "Brights" seems to suggest that naturalists are the smarter half of the dichotomy. Although the Brights are sticklers for facts - by definition, gods exists outside of the natural world - the group was named in an effort to put a positive cultural spin on the minority view that supernatural gods don’t exist. Indeed, upwards of 90 percent of humanity believes in some kind of supreme being. But that solution is not for everyone.

"People faced with the universe have an innate need to explain it, and that explanation crops up in the form of an anthropomorphized deity," Morris said. "But I don’t see a need for that entity. Science does enough that I don’t have a need personally to extend my explanation to an anthropomorphized deity."

For Morris and other self-identified Brights, answers to life’s big questions do exist in the natural world, even if they don’t always come from science. Morris believes ethics can be found through human reason and rationality.

"People need something beyond science, and I understand that, and so do I," Morris said. "But you can come to an agreement on an ethical point without pointing to a man in the sky."

Letter To The Editor:

That turned out pretty well. I especially like the opening paragraph; couldn't have said it better myself. I'm working on this site precisely because I used to feel "helpless, isolated, and even disparaged", and I don't want anyone to feel that way again. Anyway, the response should be interesting.