Bertrand Russell[s Argument Against Christianity

Russell begins effectively by immediately setting the boundaries of his essay by defining precisely what a Christian is. Before he can say why he is not a Christian, he must first establish what a Christian is. Accordingly, Russell says reasonably enough that a Christian must believe in God, in immortality, and in the special quality of Christ, either that he is, "if not divine, at least the best and wisest of men" (684).

Russell effectively employs a sharp sense of humor to press his points. For example, he writes that

but for the successful efforts of unbelievers in the past, I could not take so elastic a definition of Christianity as that. . . . In this country, . . . [hell] ceased to be an essential item because of a decision of the Privy Council. . . . Consequently I shall not insist that a Christian must believe in hell (684-685).

It is clear that Russell does not consider Christians to be on the same high plane as himself intellectually. In fact, he has nothing but contempt for those believe in God and Christ, but he disguises this contempt at first and expresses his sense of his own superiority with a soft-spoken civility. The Christian can be forgiven if he feels that he is engaging in a sincere search for the truth and not an attempt to mock his cherished beliefs.

At first, Russell is able to give the impression that he honors the rel

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istianity. Again, the rational arguments for the existence are not much to begin with, so Russell does not have to spend much energy shooting them down. They were generally created centuries ago and are not moving today. What Russell's arguments against them reveal, however, are his own limitations. He claims to be a scientific, logical, rational, philosophical thinker, but his approach to God, religion, and especially Christianity, is marked not by reasonable analysis but by contemptuous, smug, sarcastic mockery. Russell practices fallacious reasoning when he argues that he frowns on Christianity because Christians do not live up to the sayings of Christ. This is, of course, beside the point, and, in any case, it merely supports other sayings of Christ which make clear that human beings---even Christians---are profoundly fallible creatures. In addition, Russell makes a number of remarkable statements which he fails to support, such as that "Historically it is quite doubtful whether Christ ever existed at all, and if He did we do not know anything about Him" (690). Why is Russell capitalizing the pronouns which represent a being Russell believes never existed? Russell interprets Christ's words about the coming of the Kingdom
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Approximate Word count = 1632
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)