brights’ Society is an organisation of rational atheists.
Goals
- Establish a constructive dialogue between atheists and the rest of the society for promotion of scientific temper
- Encourage and support atheists along their journey of atheism
- Facilitate exchange of ideas within atheists
- Dispel the social stigma associated with atheism
Our Manifesto
We refute the existence of any supernatural power, individual or object, affecting our world, as that existence is not rationally or objectively provable. We may identify ourselves rationalists, naturalists, sceptics, materialists, humanists, agnostics or free-thinkers, as well as atheists, non-theists or irreligious individuals. We reject any and every religion / dhamma / deen / way-of-life that regulates material life based on belief in the existence of a supernatural entity or concept. Although rational decisions are superior, we are keen to continually scrutinise the validity of our decisions. We are not proud of our irrational opinions and thoughts. Through this manifesto, we declare solidarity with all atheists so as to connect with like-minded thinkers; and to safeguard our constitutional right to personal liberty and freedom of speech, from anti-rational, metaphysical and other capricious beliefs.
What is a ‘bright’?
An atheist, Paul Geisert had observed that when homosexuals were facing severe persecution abroad, their mere choosing an epithet ‘gay’, meaning ‘happy’, for themselves helped to reduce the social stigma associated with homosexuality. Inspired by this observation, Geisert proposed to use a noun ‘bright‘ for atheists to avoid the negative connotation involved in identifying oneself as an atheist. The concept ‘bright‘ is defined slightly differently than the concept ‘atheist‘. While an atheist per se only rejects the belief in the existence of any god or at most rejection of supernatural religions, a bright rejects the beliefs in the existence of all supernatural entities including soul, heaven/hell, or life after death. One doesn’t need to reject the belief in the existence of any god to be considered as a bright – it suffices even if one merely believes that this world operates without any supernatural intervention. Therefore, even agnostics, skeptics, freethinkers, naturalists, or materialists might be able to consider themselves as brights.
We, at brights’ Society, India, are not affiliated (legally or otherwise) with https://www.the-brights.net/, but we describe ourselves with the word ‘bright‘ according to the meaning coined by Geisert.
Activities
Since 2014, we have been organising annual atheist meets or conferences where around 300 atheists gather to exchange ideas. We also conduct online sessions for more frequent and focussed discussions. Most of the online and offline sessions have been recorded and are available on social media. We have conducted these events in Mumbai, Pune, and Sangli. Various prominent personalities have spoken at our events. Their names include Prithviraj Chavan, Javed Akhtar, Tushar Gandhi, Kumar Ketkar, Vishwambhar Choudhari, Pradeep Rawat, Asim Sarode, Amol Palekar, Hemachandra Pradhan, Milind Murugkar, Sheshrao More, Uttam Niraula, Narendra Nayak, Prasann Joshi, Avinash Patil, Anand Karandikar, Ganesh Kanate, Prabhakar Nanavati, Y N Walawalkar, Prakash Reddy, Ajit Abhyankar, Rajeev Sane, J V Pawar, and Achyut Godbole.
Since 2019, we have published three books discussing various aspects of atheism. You can buy them by clicking here.
In 2023, we had organised a first ever National Painting Exhibition and Competition on the theme of Atheism in Thane, Maharashtra. We received over 200 entries and awarded more than two lakh Rs in prizes. We repeated the experiment in 2024 by conducting a similar national painting exhibition and competition on the theme of Rationalism.
Interact with us
Address for correspondence: 103 Shivasmruti, Opp Patankar Clinic,
Gavand Path, Off Gokhale Road, Naupada, Thane, 400602
Phone: +919867691688
You can join us if:
- You are more than 18 year old,
- Agree with society’s manifesto,
- Apply for membership,
- And pay the subscription fees.
Any member who is approved either by the executive committee or by the general body can become a voting member.
All voting members can vote in the general body and participate in elections.
brights’ Society is registered as a charitable organization under The Societies Registration Act (1860) with registration number MAH/Raigad/185/2021. We are registered with The Income Tax Act under 12A and 80G with registration numbers AAETB5532G22PN01 / AAETB5532G22PN02.
Frequently Asked Questions
Click here to read our answers to some FAQs about us:
- What is atheism? Why are you all atheists?
- Won’t a society without religion devolve into a lawless and unethical barbarism?
- Isn’t atheism/rationalism also a religion?
- What will it take for you to believe in the existence of a god?
- Can’t god be the explanation for some open problems in science?
- What is your problem with faith?
- Doesn’t faith offer mental peace? If you’re denouncing the concept of faith, then are you offering any alternative solution for catering to the unmet need of emotional support?
- Do you hate god? Do you hate religious people?
- How can Indians take a western concept such as atheism seriously? What is your understanding about the atheistic schools of thought in the Indian culture?
- Are you different from the agnostics?
- Can atheists be culturally religious, to identify themselves as Christian atheists, Hindu atheists, Muslim atheists, etc.? Do atheists also reject the cultural facets of religion?
- Isn’t atheism merely a negativistic, negatory, defensive, or apophatic stance?
- Doesn’t atheism isolate you from the rest of the society? Doesn’t atheism make life boring? How do you deal with theist family and friends?
- What is your take on secularism? On humanism? On egalitarianism?
- What is your take on XYZ? And lorem ipsum?
- Is it legal to be an atheist in India?
- Should the government promote atheism?
- Do you try to convert theists into atheists?
- What are the important problems faced by atheists in India?
- What is a ‘bright’?
- What are the goals of your organization?