Reply #13: Apologies beforehand, but

[Fenris]

I don't think 'brights' is a good way to identify yourself as a secular humanist (which I consider myself to be), because it is to a degree arrogant and, like other posters have mentioned, self-congratulatory. I have known a lot (a LOT) of people in my 19 years on this Earth who openly derided the beliefs of others and declared themselves to be the crown of creation. Much like an earlier post stated, it's that highschool mentality of automatically denying the validity of someone's arguments or observations because they don't think the way you do. That's intellectual intolerance. I've known since I was in the seventh grade that I wasn't a theist, but I never, ever considered myself intellectually superior to anyone who believed in a God or Gods. Because if I had treated people like that, I would have been no better than the fundamentalists who deride nonbelievers and think themselves greater.

I agree with you, BurtWorm, that America is not extremely tolerant or accepting of agnostics/atheists/humanists. But I don't think a term like 'brights' is going to improve their (or our, I suppose) standing in this heavily theistic nation.