I want to start a church. (Go figure! I’m the son of an evangelical pastor)
I would call myself a Bright. I like the term and it is simple to define. My philosophical outlook is naturalistic. No supernatural BS for me. I’m a materialist/monist through and through. Pretty straight forward. However, people wouldn’t believe the journey that I have made to get here. Actually, it isn’t that exciting. Like anyone else’s I guess. Pastor’s son like Nietzsche, and like him I always had more questions. I searched for God. I always wanted to ‘know him’ better. I searched for the truth no matter what the cost. This was my ‘downfall’. I found the truth…
It has been years since my ‘conversion’ or awakening to reality. But I can’t get away from this burning desire to ‘spread the good news’. I want to teach people about how freeing it is to let go: To admit to yourself that you do not ‘have it all figured out’. As weird as it sounds, I figured out that I do not have it all figured out! There is no ‘grand narrative’.
I am a MUCH happier and freer person now. I have pursued philosophy with a vengeance! I am sure there are millions just like me. There are more atheists in this world than any of them lead on. People just don’t give a shit. Who cares to evangelize? We understand there is no God or supernatural, why should we trouble ourselves to preach the good news to these annoying theists? Just let them die off and not go to their heaven. The world will someday be free of religion’s shackles. It is clearly happening. Why should we care to bring it on faster, when being an outspoken atheist today is such a headache!? (In the US at least)
There are a few atheists that are out there evangelizing, but they tend to give it a bad name. For Pete-sake, the term has historically been a pejorative term coined by theists anyway. I don’t like the term Atheist because you can’t be a ‘believer in non-belief’. It is a stupid term. I like the term Bright. To me Bright means monist or materialist in a broad sense.
So I want to start The First Bright Church of USA. Not really, but I want to simply tell people of the happiness, understanding, and meaning I have in my life. I want to teach of how meaningless and mind numbing the concept of God is. Break free from the idiocy of Cartesian Dualism. The supernatural is bogus.
I’m sorry… This post is all passion and not organized well… but I don’t give a too much of a shit.
I guess my question is. Do people know of or attend groups of Atheists or Brights that are in a way like churches? Is anyone fairly evangelical in their atheism? I at least want to start a small group in my little town here in Oregon to teach others that there is so much more that life has to offer… but they must learn to open their mind and hearts and break from the shackles of religion, theism, and Cartesian dualism.