First Bright's Meeting of the School Year

Yesterday was the first meeting of UK's Brights. For those of you who don't know what "Brights" are, please feel free to explore their website. The University of Kentucky is trying to gain more members in order to officially label themselves as a part of the "Bright" community. Right now it looks like we'll be mostly a discussion-based group even though I personally want to advocate for activism/recruitment, readings, and fundraising. At this meeting we talked about what encouraged us to question religion. I discussed being raised in a fairly religious household, being told that "women aren't supposed to be strong," and that women are expect to "do" certain things around the house as well as certain things for others. Many believe that women are supposed to be selfless individuals who "want" to take care of others, cook, clean, and have babies. Of course, many religions promote this type of thinking and reinforce static, dialectical sex-based role assignment rather than roles or positions based on independent desires. Personally, I do what I want. I do care about others, but only to the extent that I wish them to care about me and think men and women act similarly when it comes to this. I used to be very adamant about not having children, which in retrospect was a good thing. However, after finding a loving person who I wish to share my life with, I have changed my mind.

So why do I refuse to believe in the supernatural? First and foremost, science is about questioning, religion is about having faith, and questioning the world around me is much more productive and responsible. I also think acting in the name of a "God" is stupid--people should have real reasons to go to war, attack their enemies, and ultimately do what they choose to do. I think people confuse "what god wants them to do" with their own desires and/or the result of religious conditioning and how it has influenced them to do what they do.

I would like to encourage anyone who desires to question the world around him/her to join us for our next meeting. Please contact me if you want the specific meeting information.