The term "bright" I don’t much care for,
but hey, we did the best we could with it.
I was with Richard Dawkins in Clearwater,
Florida and a few other people who brainstormed
and came up with idea of having the "brights."
I think I was maybe the third or fourth person
to sign the membership roster.
And a "bright" is someone who thinks logically
and rationally; bases his or her decisions
on rationality, upon logic, and upon evidence—that’s
the major thing right there.
And if we don’t have evidence, we can express
our belief or lack of belief in it, but it
has to be provisional.
I believe that this is probably true, though
I don’t have any evidence for or against.
It’s a perfectly safe statement.
And so, brights base all of their decisions
and their beliefs on logic, rationality, and
evidence.
That’s the thing in which they differ from
the average person who takes anything that
comes along that looks attractive.
“Oh, I like that; I think I’ll believe
in it.”
Not that I know.
I am an atheist, tried and true.
I have been since I was, oh I guess about
this tall.
I’m only about this tall now.
And I made up my mind that I was going to
investigate all of these things and question
them.
I went to Sunday school.
I was tossed out of Sunday school immediately.
But it gave me 25 cents that I could have
put in the contribution plate there, so when
they pass the plate around, and I found out
that at Purdy's Drug Store, you could buy
a two-flavored ice cream sundae for 25 cents.
And that was a great discovery of my childhood,
I must say, and I took full advantage of it.
My parents, bless them, never found out and
I went off every Sunday morning as if going
to Sunday school, but I lied.
And I’m ashamed to admit it now, and if
my dad and mom are up there someplace, or
down there someplace, I have no idea, I ask
them to forgive me.
