Glossary AGNOSTIC: One who withholds judgment on the existence or nonexistence of supernatural entities on the grounds that it cannot be known with any certainty. Coined by nineteenth-century biologist Thomas Huxley. ATHEIST: Someone who does not believe in the existence of a god or gods. BRIGHTS: A recent attempt at a positive term for those whose worldview is natu- ralistic, without supernatural or mystical elements. Philosopher Daniel Dennett has suggested SUPERS as the corresponding name for those who believe in the supernatural. CREATIONISM: The belief that the universe was created by a supernatural entity. See also INTELLIGENT DESIGN. DOGMA (pl. DOGMATA): A belief or conviction that is held to be unquestion- able. Not all religious systems are dogmatic, and not all dogmas are religious; it is the act of disallowing challenge in any form that makes an idea dogmatic. ETHICS: Systematic frameworks for morality, or the study of moral questions. Whereas morality refers to individual actions and motivations, ethics deals with the creation of rules and systems to encourage moral understanding and behav- ior. See also MORALITY. EVANGELICAL: General description of any Christian denomination that is fun- damentalist and literal in its orientation to the Bible. Includes the belief that one has a duty to spread one's own belief system as widely as possible. 251