Old words, new meanings

Ours is a famously fluid language, and meaning is always on the move. But sometimes, people change meanings quite deliberately, for very definite reasons. The most famous example must be the word 'Gay', whose new meaning has taken incredibly firm and widespread hold in a very short time.

Words or behaviours that spread through a culture like this were given their own name - 'memes' (pronounced 'meems') by Darwinian geneticist Richard Dawkins. And Professor Dawkins is now part of a group trying to create a new meme.

It's a group of those who might otherwise be loosely termed 'atheists'. And just as gay people wanted a new, more positive term for themselves, so do Dawkins and his group.

There's no doubt 'Atheist' has rather negative, almost nihilistic, associations. So this group has chosen to call itself the 'Brights'. They are, they say, those who hold 'a naturalistic worldview, free of supernatural and mystical elements'.

Dawkins captured something of the spirit of the Brights - and the power of the single word - in his recent Channel 4 programme. Challenging an evangelical pastor (who was staging a violently homophobic play for young people), Dawkins asked how he could be so sure that homosexuality was wrong.

The man eventually came up with 'it's a faith issue.' Then, struck by inspiration, he asked Dawkins, 'What makes you so sure it isn't?'

Dawkins looked at him. 'Evidence,' he said.

It'll be interesting to see if this new meme takes hold the way 'gay' has. Being a 'Bright' sounds a bit awkward and self-conscious at the moment, but then being a 'gay' probably sounded pretty odd in its early days. And let's face it, we could do with a little reason these days. Somehow you can't imagine wars being fought, or groups like gays being persecuted, by hordes of fanatical evolutionary scientists.

Click here to find out more about the Brights. You could even sign up as one. I have.