Why I am not a Christian

***^1/2/*****                                                                                                                                    Essay

Why I am not a Christian

      Bertrand Russell

This is a collection of essays by Bertrand Russell. Many of these deal with religion and with issues related to religion. The eponymous essay Why I am not a Christian is one of the finest essay written on religion or the lack of it (contrary to the popular notion, a person who is conventionally known not to have religion may well be one of the most religious in his beliefs on atheism, while a supposed believer may actually be quite casual and ignorant about his beliefs). In a clear and sparkling prose Russell puts forth his reasons for not believing in Christianity. He writes about Christianity but the arguments are true for all religions, so in effect he speaks for atheists. One may not agree with his reasons but none can deny the force and cogency of his arguments. His sharp intellect and clear thinking are evident throughout. His arguments can be understood by a layperson, i.e., these are not presented in philosophical jargon. He is candid and fearless in expressing his unconventional opinions. One can only thank this intellectual and a marvellous author to clearly state in words, the thoughts which have hounded many of us some time in our lives. He wants us ‘to stand upon our own feet and look fair and square at the world- its good facts, its bad facts, its beauties, and its ugliness: see the world as it is, and be not afraid of it’. According to him the whole conception of god is ‘quite unworthy of free men.’ He is unsparing of religion and churchmen even in some other essays in the collection. In another essay, Has Religion Bad or Useful Contributions to Civilisation, he says ‘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’.

There are other essays which apparently do not deal with religion but in these he talks about issues which religion has come to dominate like morality, education and idea of being good. In a wickedly humorous essay Nice People, he writes about the hypocrites in our society. In Freedom and the Colleges, he puts forth his views on education and maintains the same iconoclastic creed in the essay Our Sexual Ethics. In the end there is an account, by the editor Paul Edwards, of the shenanigans deployed by the so-called religious lobby to prevent Bertrand Russell from taking up the post of professor of Philosophy at the College of the City of New York. The highbrow intellectuals, the religious fanatics, the rabble-rousing politicians and the totally ignorant and unconcerned parties looking for instantaneous fame spared no canards and no devious means to calumniate Bertrand Russell. Unfortunately, this incidence which happened 60 years back still keeps repeating in India with mere change of the names of the players.

These are the essays which open closed and cobwebbed recesses in mind and force one to think anew and deeply on issues which one confronts in his daily life.