I don't attend Bright, atheist, humanist, etc. meetings. In my experience, as soon as you label yourself anything, you come under attack. I have been a materialist all my life and as soon as I let anyone know that, I come under attack. Unless you belong to one tribe or another, you are attacked by all of them. Atheists, Brights, etc. assail me for not taking a stand and siding with them. Religious people say I am evil and damned because I don't believe in their gods. Frankly, all these assailants strike me as being barbaric regardless of which tribe they belong to. There are people of all persuasions who are not hostile, but as soon as they collect as a group and speak with a group's voice, they quickly identify their 'enemy' and go on the attack. Perhaps in 10, 000 years or so the situation may change, but frankly I doubt it.

dMb

I have a deep fear of rednecks. As a 6 year walking alone to school in smalltown America during the height of the US involvement in Vietnam, I got blamed for the war. I had slanty eyes and looked like the enemy. Thus I was bullied, taunted and teased. That's probably why I feel more at home in cities and amongst educated people. Being in the US after 911 scared the hell out of me. America was gearing up for conflict based on ignorance, propaganda and the exploitation of passion untempered by reason. I could smell the rednecks a coming out of the woodwork and so I got out of that country fast!

I now find myself experiencing this same fear with this new Richard Dawkins/Brights movement. I've got no problem with atheism. What what worries me is that lately, I perceive an atmosphere of of sarcasm and hostility toward others with a different view. Ironically, athiests were always one of the groups whom I used to feel safe with. By and large I used to see atheists as rational, logical and reasonable people. I don't think I would be wrong in stating that by and large atheists tend to come from the more educated and intelligent.

Richard Dawkins is making out that atheists are an oppressed class of people. There is probably some truth in this as Amercia is becoming over- by zealots. But it's an exaggeration and like a virus, this attitude spreads among atheists. It then becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. In other words, he is amplifying whatever potential for hostility was there in the first place. I will agree that religious fundamentalism has taken over America in a big way. I think this can be largely blamed on George Bush's government who have spread lies, stereotypes and falshoods. They've created a more dangerous world than was there before 911. There are more terrorists today than there were before 911.

David Ray Griffin (born 1939) is a retired professor of philosophy of religion and theology. Most recently, he proposes 9/11 conspiracy theories that contradict the mainstream account of events. Griffin's theories implicate some elements of the United States government in the attacks.[1] Along with John B. Cobb, Jr. he is considered a foundational thinker in Process theology

Background
David Ray Griffin is a longtime resident of Santa Barbara, California, was a full-time academic from 1973 until April 2004. He is currently a co-director of the Center for Process Studies, and one of the foremost contemporary exponents of process theology, founded on the process philosophies of Alfred North Whitehead and Charles Hartshorne. He is also a leading exponent of theories questioning the Bush Administration's account of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Griffin grew up in a small town in Oregon, where he was an active participant in his Disciples of Christ church. After deciding to become a minister, Griffin entered Northwest Christian College, but became disenchanted with the conservative-fundamentalist theology that was taught there. While getting his master’s degree in counseling from the University of Oregon, Griffin attended a lecture series delivered by Paul Tillich at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. At this time, Griffin made his decision to focus on philosophical theology. He eventually attended the Claremont Graduate University, where Griffin received his Ph.D. in 1970.

Well I'm fascinated and puzzled by this new movement calling themselves the Brights. According the website http://www.the-brights.net :