Why I Am Not a Christian

Bertrand Russell was a philosopher, mathematician, logician, and intellectual who didn’t hesitate to share his beliefs with the public. “Why I Am Not a Christian” is one of his many published lectures, pamphlets, and articles. It investigates fundamental questions of religion and humanity’s place in the universe.

This guide refers to the Routledge 2004 e-book edition of “Why I Am Not a Christian: and Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects.”

Russell first delivered “Why I Am Not a Christian” as a lecture at Battersea Town Hall for the South London Branch of the National Secular Society in 1927. He begins by discussing how “Christian” has become a term that people commonly use to describe “a person who attempts to live a good life” (1). Russell quickly states why he doesn’t use that definition, explaining that people who attempt to do good are of many different faiths—such as Buddhism, Islam, or Judaism—so referring to someone who strives to live a good life as necessarily “Christian” is patently untrue. He then notes that in the times of St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, many held that a Christian was someone who believed in Jesus Christ and followed all of his writings and beliefs with “the whole strength of [one’s] convictions” (2).