Bertrand Russell Quotes About Religion

• The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd.

  Bertrand Russell

  Education, Truth, Religion

  Marriage and Morals ch. 5 (1929)

• So far as I can remember, there is not one word in the Gospels in praise of intelligence.

  Bertrand Russell

  Death, Atheist, Religion

  Bertrand Russell (2013). “Education and the Social Order”, p.73, Routledge

• Cruel men believe in a cruel god and use their belief to excuse their cruelty. Only kindly men believe in a kindly god, and they would be kindly in any case.

  Bertrand Russell

  Believe, Men, Religion

  Bertrand Russell, John G. Slater, Peter Köllner (1997). “Last Philosophical Testament: 1943-68”, p.88, Psychology Press

• And if there were a God, I think it very unlikely that He would have such an uneasy vanity as to be offended by those who doubt His existence

  Bertrand Russell

  Death, God, Spiritual

  Bertrand Russell, John G. Slater, Peter Köllner (1997). “Last Philosophical Testament: 1943-68”, p.554, Psychology Press

• The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge.

  Bertrand Russell

  Love, Life, Relationship

  Bertrand Russell (1957). “Why I Am Not a Christian: And Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects”, p.56, Simon and Schuster

• We may define "faith" as the firm belief in something for which there is no evidence. Where there is evidence, no one speaks of "faith." We do not speak of faith that two and two are four or that the earth is round. We only speak of faith when we wish to substitute emotion for evidence. The substitution of emotion for evidence is apt to lead to strife, since different groups, substitute different emotions.

  Bertrand Russell

  Two, Religion, Wish

  Bertrand Russell (1993). “The Quotable Bertrand Russell”

• The objections to religion are of two sorts - intellectual and moral. The intellectual objection is that there is no reason to suppose any religion true; the moral objection is that religious precepts date from a time when men were more cruel than they are and therefore tend to perpetuate inhumanities which the moral conscience of the age would otherwise outgrow.

  Bertrand Russell

  Death, Religious, Men

  Bertrand Russell (1957). “Why I Am Not a Christian: And Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects”, p.30, Simon and Schuster

• Most of the greatest evils that man has inflicted upon man have come through people feeling quite certain about something which, in fact, was false.

  Bertrand Russell

  Humility, Men, People

  Bertrand Russell (1996). “Unpopular Essays”, p.176, Psychology Press

• My whole religion is this: do every duty, and expect no reward for it, either here or hereafter.

  Bertrand Russell

  Religion, Rewards, Duty

  Bertrand Russell (1986). “Bertrand Russell on God and Religion”

• Prison is a severe and terrible punishment; but for me, thanks to Arthur Balfour, this was not so. I was much cheered on my arrival by the warder at the gate, who had to take particulars about me. He asked my religion, and I replied 'agnostic.' He asked how to spell it, and remarked with a sigh: 'Well, there are many religions, but I suppose they all worship the same God.' This remark kept me cheerful for about a week.

  Bertrand Russell

  God, Punishment, Religion

  Bertrand Russell (1998). “Autobiography”, p.257, Psychology Press

• Religions, which condemn the pleasures of sense, drive men to seek the pleasures of power. Throughout history power has been the vice of the ascetic.

  Bertrand Russell

  Power, Men, Religion

  The New York Herald-Tribune Magazine, March 6, 1938.

• Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd.

  Bertrand Russell

  Xenophobia, Fear, Racism

  Bertrand Russell (2009). “The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell”, p.70, Routledge

• There is something feeble, and a little contemptible, about a man who cannot face the perils of life without the help of comfortable myths. Almost inevitably some part of him is aware that they are myths and that he believes them only because they are comforting. But he dare not face this thought, and he therefore cannot carry his own reflection to any logical conclusion.

  Bertrand Russell

  Believe, Men, Comforting

  "Human Society in Ethics and Politics".

• I think we ought always to entertain our opinions with some measure of doubt. I shouldn't wish people dogmatically to believe any philosophy, not even mine.

  Bertrand Russell

  Inspirational, Philosophy, Believe

• Obscenity is whatever happens to shock some elderly and ignorant magistrate.

  Bertrand Russell

  Elderly, Umpires, Ignorant

  Look Magazine, February 23, 1954.

• I say quite deliberately that the Christian religion, as organized in its Churches, has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world.

  Bertrand Russell

  Death, Christian, Atheist

  Bertrand Russell (1957). “Why I Am Not a Christian: And Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects”, p.21, Simon and Schuster

• Religion is based ... mainly upon fear ... fear of the mysterious, fear of defeat, fear of death. Fear is the parent of cruelty, and therefore it is no wonder if cruelty and religion have gone hand in hand. My own view on religion is that of Lucretius. I regard it as a disease born of fear and as a source of untold misery to the human race.

  Bertrand Russell

  Atheist, Race, Views

• I found one day in school a boy of medium size ill-treating a smaller boy. I expostulated, but he replied: "The bigs hit me, so I hit the babies; that's fair." In these words he epitomized the history of the human race.

  Bertrand Russell

  Baby, Bullying, Anger

  "Education and the Social Order". Book by Bertrand Russell, p. 31, 1932.

• You find as you look around the world that every single bit of progress in humane feeling, every improvement in the criminal law, every step toward the diminution of war, every step toward better treatment of the colored races, or every mitigation of slavery, every moral progress that there has been in the world, has been consistently opposed by the organized churches of the world. I say quite deliberately that the christian religion, as organized in its churches, has been and still is the principle enemy of moral progress in the world.

  Bertrand Russell

  Christian, War, Race

  Bertrand Russell, Robert Edward Egner (1961). “The basic writings of Bertrand Russell, 1903-1959”

• Never try to discourage thinking, for you are sure to succeed.

  Bertrand Russell

  Thinking, Religion, Atheism

  Bertrand Russell (2014). “The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell”, p.553, Routledge

• I believe that when I die I shall rot, and nothing of my ego will survive. I am not young, and I love life. But I should scorn to shiver with terror at the thought of annihilation. Happiness is nonetheless true happiness because it must come to an end, nor do thought and love lose their value because they are not everlasting.

  Bertrand Russell

  Believe, Love Life, Ego

  Bertrand Russell (2004). “What I Believe”, p.22, Routledge

• Religion is something left over from the infancy of our intelligence, it will fade away as we adopt reason and science as our guidelines.

  Bertrand Russell

  Fear, Science, Infancy Is

• One is often told that it is a very wrong thing to attack religion, because religion makes men virtuous. So I am told; I have not noticed it.

  Bertrand Russell

  Men, Religion, Atheism

  "Why I Am Not a Christian" (1927)

• I am myself a dissenter from all known religions, and I hope that every kind of religious belief will die out.

  Bertrand Russell

  Religious, Atheist, Religion

  Bertrand Russell (2004). “Sceptical Essays”, p.125, Psychology Press

• The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widely spread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible.

  Bertrand Russell

  Learning, Knowledge, Parenting

  Marriage and Morals ch. 5 (1929)

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