The Brights Movement is committed to promoting public understanding and acknowledgment of the naturalistic world view. Chicago biology teacher Paul Geisert and Mynga Futrell, an educator who is also a board of directors’ member of the American Humanist Association and a former president of Atheists and Other Freethinkers, founded it in 2003. Futrell defined a “bright” as “an individual whose worldview is naturalistic (free from supernatural and mystical elements).”

The Brights Movement motto is “Illuminating and Elevating the Naturalistic Worldview.” The organization has three major aims: promote public awareness of the naturalistic worldview, achieve recognition that individuals who hold this worldview can behave in principled ways in important civic matters, and educate all members of society to recognize and accept the participation of Brights.