Hello guys! It's @yoonsg🙌. Today I brought an interesting topic to talk about. Bertrand Russell is a very famous philosopher, mathematician, historian and sociologist from the UK and below are excerpts from his book. I personally agree with these words quite a bit. But if there are Christians who do not agree please freely suggest your opinions. I am an atheist, but my brother is a Christian. We often talk about these topics freely and I am always happy to listen to objections.
Excerpt from 'Why I am not a Christian' by Bertrand Russell
(It might be a bit awkward since I read the Korean translated version of the book and re-translated it to English.)
If everything has to have a cause, so is God. If there is anything that can exist without cause, this world can be so as God can be so.
There is a story that religion makes people moral. I've often heard that story, but I've never actually witnessed it.
All progress made in the area of ​​human emotions, all improvements in criminal law, all attempts to reduce the war, all steps to improve the treatment of the colored races, all efforts to alleviate slavery, and all other moral advances, were endlessly opposed by the churches. Christianity, organized in the form of a church, has so far been the main enemy of the moral progress of the world.
I admit that Christianity now is less harmful than it once was. But it is because people are not as passionate as they were in the past.
It was the Christians who unjustly accused the Jewish Dreyfus and the free thinkers who led his final reinstatement.
The Catholic Church concealed or reduced the massacre of ten million Congolese residents for the production of atrocities, ivory and rubber by the Belgian Congolese government. Any claim that Christianity can help elevate morality can only be sustained through massive ignorance or manipulation of historical evidence.
The usual answer to these questions is that lamentable Christians are not true Christians who have not followed Jesus' teachings. The same logic can be advocated by the fact that the Soviet government was not composed of true Marxists. Marx taught that the Slavs were inferior to the Germanic, but this doctrine was not accepted in the Kremlin.
Every church develops self-preservation instincts and minimizes those doctrines presented by the founder that do not serve this purpose.
The most dangerous features of the Soviet reminds me of a medieval church. The fact that they believe in the doctrine embodied in the divine book, that they are reluctant to think critically about the doctrines, and that they do barbaric persecution of those who reject those doctrines.
World War I was a completely Christian war. The three emperors who led the war were devout Christians, as were the ministers of the British cabinet. In Germany and Russia, voices against the war came from anti - Christian communists. In France, a socialist leader, Jaurès, opposed the war, and Christians cheered when he was assassinated. In the UK, the famous atheist John Morley opposed the war.
The Bible says that women should not marry their dead husband's brothers and that they should also do so. If you are a widow with a brother-in-law who's not married, it is logically impossible to avoid disobeying God's teachings.
Q. Russell Are you not afraid when you deny God?
A. Very clearly so. I deny not only Yahweh, but Zeus, Jupiter, Odin, and Brahman, but this is not at all controversial. And if there is a god, I do not think he has the uncomfortable vanity to be offended by those who doubt his existence.
Thank you for reading!