Atheists on the Offensive

The L.A. Times prints an interesting article on the new public relations offensive of atheists. They appeal to human reason and naturalism as their source of truth and are seeking celebrity and political status in order to change the existing cultural bias against them. The newest brand of atheism calls itself "The Brights." Here is their statement of belief: "What is a bright? A bright is a person who has a naturalistic worldview A bright's worldview is free of supernatural and mystical elements The ethics and actions of a bright are based on a naturalistic worldview." Furthermore, they state: "The movement's three major aims are:

Promote the civic understanding and acknowledgment of the naturalistic worldview, which is free of supernatural and mystical elements.

Gain public recognition that persons who hold such a worldview can bring principled actions to bear on matters of civic importance.

Educate society toward accepting the full and equitable civic participation of all such individuals." This is the new atheism that seeks to be more subtle in its attempts to remove God from the culture. Promote naturalism and reason and people will abandon God is the basis of Bright religion. Obviously, their belief system is hardly new, but makes for interesting reading and, of course, blogging.