Many people regularly attend religious services for the sense of community they find there.

But a sense of community is also important to many who don't believe in God.

That's why on the first Monday evening of every month, a small group called The Brights meets in North County for an evening meal and to chat about their nonreligious beliefs.

"I was raised in a not-too-large Irish Catholic family in New York City, and I struggled a great deal with losing the community and ritual that comes with those supernatural beliefs," said Encinitas resident A Kovacs, who was at last month's meeting at the Encinitas Denny's.

"The Brights and the San Diego Association for Rational Inquiry (a local organization loosely affiliated with the publishers of the Skeptical Inquirer magazine) give me the community I was so sorely missing. People to talk to who are quirky and real and opinionated just like me, who may or may not agree with me, but do respect and challenge me."

With books like Richard Dawkins' "God Delusion" and Sam Harris' "The End of Faith" making the bestsellers' list, many of the Brights feel their point of view is becoming more mainstream. "I see a lot of signs that it is becoming more acceptable," said Dwain Deets, 68, of Encinitas, founder of the local Brights group. "More and more, when I say I am an atheist to someone, there is a growing number that respond in some form or statement such as, 'I think there are more out there that think like you than you realize.'"

Deets points to two recent studies to support his observation, including an American Religious Identification Survey that found about 29 million Americans (or 14 percent of the population) have "no religion," making the nonreligious the fastest growing belief group in the U.S.

And the Pew Research Center for People and the Press found that nonreligion is growing faster among American youth, with one in five (20 percent) of 18- to 25-year-olds claiming to be atheists or agnostics or to have no religious affiliation.

Brights member Stephan Etienne said he was raised Catholic in Brittany, France and is now an atheist. "It is hard to find a spot that is devoid of some religious message," he said of the United States. "There are churches everywhere; billboards that remind you Jesus saves; bumper stickers. Even in the street, people constantly tell you 'God bless,' and of course there is the 'One nation under God' in the pledge of allegiance, and 'In God we trust' on coins and dollar notes. What shocked me the most when I came here (to San Diego) is how much religion there is."

A Bright is a person who has a naturalistic world view, free of supernatural and mystical beliefs. The Bright movement was founded by two California educators, Paul Geisert and Mynga Futrell, in Sacramento. Since it was launched in 2003, tens of thousands of Brights from nearly 100 countries, including evolutionist Richard Dawkins and philosopher Daniel Bennett, have given their support to the movement.

"They had a poll about what to call themselves, and they chose Brights," explained Deets, a retired NASA engineer. But other terms might work equally well: humanist spiritualist, skeptic, rationalist, secular humanist, agnostic or ignostic, or even atheist. Like atheists, Brights don't believe in a supreme being or God.

Deets said he was raised in California in several Christian churches and raised his children in the Disciples of Christ faith. In fact, he and his wife were lay leaders in that church, and Deets was chairman of the elders for a number of years and also chairman of the board.

But, in his mid-40s, he said, he came to the realization he no longer believed in God. "I was a teacher of the high school-age Sunday school class, and we were studying the module on science and religion," he said. "I realized I couldn't buy the explanations in the teaching materials on things like why the eye is so complex that it must have been created by God."

Deets considers himself both a Bright and an activist atheist, as do many of the others who regularly attend the Monday evening Brights meetings. "I have found being an atheist very freeing and naturally want to be facilitator for other people who are also open to the search for understanding," he wrote in an e-mail.

Not everyone is open to their search, though, the members said.

"Admitting one is atheist right away makes many people suspect that you have criminal intent, low morals or are unpatriotic," said Steve Deiss, a senior development engineer at the UC San Diego Biology/Neurobiology/Integrated Systems Neurobiology Lab and a member of the Brights. "They do not understand that religion and morals are products of a process of evolution that did not stop with biology, but continues with culture and technology."

Deets said he considers it his patriotic duty to spread the Brights' point of view. "It's doing what I can to help the First Amendment remain strong, with the particular emphasis on separation between government and religion. I don't do this just because I think that is what our Founding Fathers strove for, but also because I think this is the best way to have a strong and vibrant country."

At one point at the last Bright meeting, the discussion turned to consitutional rights. One of the members mentioned that a number of states prohibit atheists from holding public office. In the Arkansas State Constitution (Article 19, Section 1), it states "no person who denies the being of a God shall hold any office in the civil departments of State, nor be competent to testify as a witness in any court."

Many of those attending the Brights meeting said they have felt discrimination for their nonreligious beliefs. Sherry Robeson, 59, of Carlsbad, said she honestly believes that if her closest friend, who is not overtly Christian, knew she had embraced atheism, their friendship would erode quite quickly.

"At the moment, I am Sherry, but the next one I would be 'the atheist,' she wrote in an e-mail later. "Retired now, I have no history as an atheist in the work situation, but I do feel very sure it would not be a comfortable place to me at all. Mainstream religions seem to feel genuinely threatened by atheism," added the ex-postal clerk.

And Robeson's feelings may not be unjustified. In a three-year project at the Department of Sociology at the University of Minnesota that examined race and religion in the United States, survey participants ranked atheists the highest as a potential threat to the country (54 percent), higher than Muslims, who were the second-highest category.

- Contact staff writer Ruth Marvin Webster at (760) 740-3527 or rwebster@nctimes.com.