A Worldview “How-To” – Illuminate and Elevate

Sprinkled widely across the globe. That’s us – the Brights! There are registered Brights in over 160 nations.

Each of us has considered our overall worldview - comparing it to the definition of a bright (free of supernatural/mystical elements) - and then signed ourselves into the constituency of Brights.

• The identity name defines us quite broadly and simply, while our having the online hub gives us all mutual exposure. The website expresses our sense of purpose to the public - educational. We can be identifiable as champions of sound science and evolutionary understanding, along with an egalitarian civic vision.
• The online hub of communications and volunteer activities of this international online constituency serves as a mechanism for informing others about the Brights initiative and offering supernatural-free perspectives regarding human morality and the evolution of life on earth.

That’s who we are — science-leaning folks, illuminating and elevating the naturalistic worldview in our daily lives. As explained on the website, that’s simply “what we do”!

Unlike religious endeavors, no single canon or manifesto or catalog of beliefs underpins the Brights initiative. No dogma! Just individuals viewing the world as we do: naturalistically - without supernatural/mystical elements. And, to the extent we can safely do so? – openly and constructively exemplifying our way of viewing the world.

About That Checkup?

The calendar year is winding down, and you may have missed two informative reports produced earlier in 2022, both looking at the performance of scientific enterprise and public attitudes toward it.

Two reports of note. One study focuses on the United States (that’s where most Brights are registered), although it does set the U.S. picture into a global context with comparisons that would be of considerable interest to many Brights elsewhere. The other report, by a private company surveying the global picture, is of a somewhat lighter fare with a profusion of informative charts and graphs.

The State of U.S. Science and Engineering 2022 was compiled by the National Science Foundation’s National Science Board.

• The biennial report tackles both U.S. and global aspects of (1) STEM Education and Labor Force, (2) Research and Development, and (3) Science/Technology Capabilities. The Executive Summary link here allows online scrutiny of the full text and also gives access to a downloadable, 30-page full report option [pdf].

The State of Science Index 2022: Global Report from 3M is a 50-page report [pdf] surveying 17 countries. (It oversamples some key U.S. segments in order to get a better youth and ethnic picture.)

• Surveying STEM equity, skilled trades, sustainability, health equity, and future technology, this report concludes that public trust in science is holding steady so far, but that misinformation threatens scientific credibility. Most report information is supplied visually via charts and graphs galore!

Research Leads to a New Play

Belief in God: Do practicing clergy ever lose theirs?

Some do. Information about this circumstance was brought to light in 2010, thanks to philosopher (and Enthusiastic Bright) Daniel Dennett and his colleague, qualitative researcher Linda LaScola. They had conducted a study of clergy members who no longer believed in God yet were still active in the pulpit.

• Other activities followed from their initial ground-breaking research, including the formation of The Clergy Project (a private forum for closeted clergy members), as well as their co-authored book (Caught in The Pulpit: Leaving Belief Behind) to which Enthusiastic Bright Richard Dawkins contributed a foreword.
• On the Project website you can check out the fascinating history of the research effort as well as the many subsequent pursuits related to the topical realm of clergy members no longer believing.

The Unbelieving, a new Off-Broadway play (running this month only), is the most recent offshoot. This “docu-theatre” composition digs into the secret lives of some practicing clergy members who no longer believe in God. The play is based on actual testimonies in the initial study of closeted pastors and priests.

Besides the basic show detail, you may find of interest pre-opening commentary by Enthusiastic Bright Hemant Mehta and the personal thoughts of researcher LaScola.

The “Pandemic” of Conspiracy Theory

False beliefs are probably more widespread than we think, according to recent research into the matter.

Media illiteracy is surely a contributing factor in widespread belief in conspiracy theory.

Other factors also play into the contemporary situation. According to recent research highlighted by the Richard Dawkins foundation, there’s a contributing role from scientific illiteracy that has concerning implications for how a citizenry responds to the rapid spread of misinformation on the internet and in social media.

Reboot Foundation Survey:
Science Fictions: low science knowledge and poor critical thinking are linked to conspiracy beliefs

• This product of the Reboot Foundation probes the negative consequences of science illiteracy, how it “… poisons political debate, worsens existing crises, and contributes to what some have called an epistemological crisis.” (Does it lie behind the slipping away of the public’s shared grip on reality?)

Pearson Institute/AP-NORC Survey (U.S.):
Many believe misinformation is increasing extreme political views and behaviors [pdf].

• Poll questions probe attitudes of respondents as well as steps they are (or are not) taking against the provoking of extremism and hate by digital media communications.

The bottom line concern: Have critical thinking skills gone somewhat by the wayside in the broader public? Reason and empiricism have seemingly been tossed aside in favor of political ideologies.

A “Platinum Rule” for Morality

Most Brights are aware of the various versions of a “Golden Rule” morality offered up by different religions and cultures. (That’s what we at Brights Central presume, anyway.)

These imperatives (“Do unto others” or “Do not do unto others”) have come down through the ages and are generally familiar to most who have pondered human morality to any extent.

Newer on the scene, perhaps? Now there is the platinum rule, a version described and promoted by Elle Harris, who wrote a book on the subject at age 11.

The delightful Elle is a now-12-year old author, and Elle: The Humanist is her book.

• Both are quite adept at explaining this platinum version of the ultimate morality rule.
• Either can offer examples of how it works and advocate for embracing its guidance in order to promote kindness, be a good person and be happy.

Elle spoke about her book (and the way she uses this rule as guidance)  at the 2022 Freedom from Religion Foundation convention in San Antonio, Texas Oct.28-30, where she accepted FFRF’s “Out of God’s Closet” scholarship award and read her book aloud.

With its pages illustrated on screen, the eloquent Elle grabbed as much rapt audience attention as did the keynote speaker, the well-known novelist John Irving, who displayed a keen sense of humor when accepting FFRF’s 2022 “Emperor Has No Clothes Award.”

An Aside.  The Bright’s Net’s executive director and other strong supporters of religion/government disjunction from across the United States attended FFRF’s “DO Mess with Texas” national convention, an event that focused on strategies for addressing the massively weakened, if not erased Establishment Clause as a consequence of two 2022 Supreme Court decisions regarding religion.

The Foundation, a membership nonprofit committed to the separation of church and state, welcomes atheist and agnostic Americans and “skeptics of any pedigree” who would add strength in numbers to support its legal and other programs.

Mulling Momentous Matters

Books have proved influential in many a child’s young life. So, too, have the good times with family or friends in which a book has been at the heart of shared experience.

For Brights who would like to acquaint young children they know with morality (having a secular and humanistic leaning), the aforementioned very short, but charmingly illustrated book by Elle Harris is hard to beat. There is plenty of “raw material” for independent reading or for discussing together the ideas within.

In his foreword to Elle: The Humanist, Philosopher (and Enthusiastic Bright) Daniel Dennett has this to say:

• “This is a book of good thinking about important things.”
• Readers of this book, whatever their age, will find themselves pondering those important things. They can find themselves practicing philosophy!

Philosophy, to be good (according to Dennett) “just has to be clear, and it has to explain whatever it says, so you know the reasons why it is wisdom.”

Dr. Dennett has also noted: “One of the important features of this book is that it tries to speak to everyone, no matter what they believe.”

Elle: The Humanist, would be a highly useful introduction to “big ideas” of living one’s life! Just a dozen pages, but plenty to contemplate. (A few pages have some concentrated text that, with more resources for publication and illustration, could have easily expanded to double the length). The illustrations are nonetheless quite inviting.

If gifting this book to a child, one could have ample opportunities to think (and chat) about philosophy, and morality, and belief systems, and diversity and inclusion. About humanism.

To Amazon, Or NOT to Amazon

Amazon started out as an online bookstore. Just books. It still sells the books, but now it sells everything else, including the kitchen sink.

To Amazon or not? That is a question many are considering in today’s busy commercial arena. A great many Brights, too. So perhaps we should explain further why that matters at all at Brights Central. (Or if it matters to you.) Among Brights, there's a distinct division of opinion, with feelings sometimes running strong!

• Some Brights value attributes of that colossal company, such as its wide variety of offerings, quick delivery, and overall convenience to the consumer. (Many of those folks make abundant purchases via Amazon.)
• Others absolutely and vehemently 100% deplore Amazon’s practices, packaging, pollution, and employee and supplier treatment. (More than one Bright has requested total removal from the constituency of Brights upon learning that The Brights’ Net had a very limited commission arrangement with “…such a loathsome company.”)

We should perhaps clarify why so many Brights are appreciative, and why we keep that arrangement: if they buy a book or swag item seen in a Brights’ Bulletin (such as Elle: The Humanist) or on a website segment, the Brights nonprofit will benefit. The buyer has become aware of an item by way of our endeavor, so Amazon directs a small percentage of the cost to benefit the Brights’ initiative, and there is no cost whatsoever to the purchaser (more details).

Don’t forget.  The Brights’ Net is an educational nonprofit corporation set up to support and promote the stated civic goals of the Brights. Deemed a public benefit, ours is among the thousands of charities eligible to receive small commissions via various arrangements.

At BC we expect Brights to have diverse opinions on a great many matters. (See Principle 1.)  We welcome and read comments from widely varied individual positions. (Send to the-brights@the-brights.net)

Online Shopping / Support the Brights

For general online shopping, BC has a quite different type of arrangement with iGive.com.

How it works: Register there, designate The Brights’ Net as your favored charity, and you can head out thenceforth to over 2000 commercial enterprises, with each and every online purchase you make via iGive sending a wee commission to the Brights.

We haven’t mentioned that arrangement in a good while, so do check it out, and the company's geographical coverage. It can be your personal way of supporting the Brights - helping to indirectly illuminate and elevate the naturalistic worldview - at absolutely no cost to yourself.

• (Note: The commission varies from store to store.) Once established on your phone and/or computer, the association turns your online purchasing into abundant and practically invisible opportunities to sustain the Brights’ initiative.

Bookmarks for Brights… Really? Still?

We’ll generalize: Brights are ardent readers. Brights read often and seriously. (The widely-shared “reading predilection” of Brights made an early impression on us here at BC.

At BC, we were always amazed at how many new registrants into the constituency said they had reached the website (i.e., learned about the Brights) simply because of a sentence or two in a book by Richard Dawkins or Dan Brown. (Even a small news mention or chapter-ending footnote by some author apparently could do the trick.)

The penchant for reading made our choice of the first item to be Brights-branded merchandise easy. It would be this: bookmarks.

Experience showed over time that Brights would most often purchase a batch of bookmarks for….

Personal Reading. That is what led many Brights “our way” in the first place. Their homes brimming with books, these folks had reason for keeping their places in the various tomes. (They would be reading more than one book simultaneously.)

Gifting. Many brights have long favored books as gifts to friends and acquaintances at birthdays or holidays. Bookmarks to go along with books lifted awareness of “the Brights.” (The QR code on the backside offered an easy route to the website.)

However, time has marched on… And, thanks to the features of modern technology, many Brights just don’t read “hard copy” as often. They have shifted to favor reading on digital devices. So, there is not as much of a need for those plastic bookmarks. Some, though, still prefer the ‘in-hand” versions. And, they have friends who do, too.

Still available.  Brights-branded bookmarks are still available for purchase from the website (easy via PayPal). A batch of 10 continues to be offered at cost, for a mere USD 4. (Although internationally, due to postal rates, we can put only up to one ounce of bookmarks into an envelope for the $4. We will of course send more if added postage USD accompanies the order.)

Book by a Bright

Another book authored by a Bright was recently added to the “Books by Brights” segment of the website.

This one comes from long-time Bright Michael Rothschild and is titled, Reverse Engineering God: Irreligious Answers to Fundamental Questions. Of the numerous books written by this author, this topic calls for our mention. (It’s close in “spirit” to the Brights, and most likely to be of interest to constituents.)

Like other works placed in the “Books by Brights” listings, Reverse Engineering God exemplifies its author’s naturalistic bent. (The answers throughout posit that there is nothing mystical about people and we all have an origin that is rooted in the natural world.) That is, the volume epitomizes “a natural world that we live in (and came from)” worldview.

Still, for this book’s listing, its author chose the “Philosophy (Mostly)” site segment, rather than “A Naturalistic Bent.” Addressing ultimate concerns and supplying answers to difficult questions shapes a philosophy. Many a Bright might like to have the author's answers handy to contemplate.

In keeping with his reverse-engineering approach, this book’s cover actually shows a robot as its author. However, despite the guise, the real Michael is a person who has had an eclectic career working in many industries. His experiences extend well beyond formal education in mathematics and computer science.  

Bottom line. Motivated by a strong desire to form a better understanding of the world, Rothschild has garnered informal education spanning all the sciences. The author was able to put to use that wealth of accumulated learning when deriving his answers to the fundamental questions supplied in Reverse Engineering God.