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Why I Am Not a Christian and Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects (1957)

by Bertrand Russell

Other authors: Paul Edwards (Editor)

Other authors: See the other authors section.

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4,014392,984 (3.91)44
While its tone is playful and frivolous, this book poses tough questions over the nature of religion and belief. Religion provides comfortable responses to the questions that have always beset humankind - why are we here, what is the point of being alive, how ought we to behave? Russell snatches that comfort away, leaving us instead with other, more troublesome alternatives: responsibility, autonomy, self-awareness. He tells us that the time to live is now, the place to live is here, and the way to be happy is to ensure others are happy.… (more)
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» See also 44 mentions

English (33)  Spanish (2)  Catalan (2)  Dutch (1)  All languages (38)
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100 RUS 6
  luvucenanzo06 | Aug 27, 2023 |
Good, clear writing; ideas that sound very current (for better or worse, the discussion has not changed much in 60 - 80 years); a lot to recommend this fairly short read.

Purely for historical reasons, it was interesting to read the last portion of the book concerning the furor over Russell's appointment to a professorship in New York, and the social, political and (extra-) legal wranglings to keep him from "corrupting the youth." It serves as a reminder how much things have changed, and how quickly; and how much is at risk today in parts, geographically and otherwise, of the country that seem so ready to rush into a reversal of liberal ideals. ( )
  dcunning11235 | Aug 12, 2023 |
Si sente che è un libro vecchio. Però se ci penso non trovo molte differenze con i più "moderni" e blasonati Dawkins e Odifreddi: mi pare che alla fine gli argomenti siano sempre quelli...

Forse la fiducia nella scienza (in particolare nelle scienze sociali) e nel progresso è un po' meno spudorato negli ultimi anni, ma per il resto siamo lì.

Simpatico leggere di come Russell, nel '30, era convinto che la Meccanica Quantistica sarebbe stata sistemata in maniera (presumo) deterministica entro pochi anni :p ( )
  kenshin79 | Jul 25, 2023 |
From the book: "Religion, since it has its source and terror, has dignified certain kinds of fear and made people thank them not disgraceful. In this it has done mankind a great disservice: all fear is bad. 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.... Even if the open windows of science at first make a shiver after the cozy indoor warmth of traditional humanizing myths, in the end the fresh air brings vigor, and the great spaces have a splendor of their own."
  PendleHillLibrary | Jun 9, 2023 |
Collection of Russell`s short critical essays about Christianity. Interesting to see how valid and thought provoking his arguments are 80-100 years later. ( )
  TheCrow2 | Nov 9, 2022 |
Showing 1-5 of 33 (next | show all)
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» Add other authors (7 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Russell, Bertrandprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Edwards, PaulEditorsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Alves, MárioTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Barbosa, GasparTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Blackburn, SimonPrefacesecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Buratti Cantarelli, TinaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Kaiser, AddyTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Kurlandzka, AmeliaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Martínez Alinari, JosefinaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Dedication
First words
As your Chairman has told you, the subject about which I am going to speak to you tonight is "Why I Am Not A Christian."
Quotations
Une vie bonne, ...c'est une vie qu'inspire l'amour et que la connaissance guide.p. 131 Ce que je crois
Science can teach us, and I think our hearts can teach us, no longer to look around for imaginary supporters, no longer to invent allies in the sky, but rather to look to our own efforts here below to make the world a fit place to live.
I do not pretend to be able to prove that there is no God. I equally cannot prove that Satan is a fiction. The Christian god may exist; so may the gods of Olympus, or of ancient Egypt, or of Babylon. But no one of these hypotheses is more probable than any other: they lie outside the region of even probable knowledge, and therefore there is no reason to consider any of them.
Conquer the world by intelligence, and not merely by being slavishly subdued by the terror that comes from it.
I do not myself feel that any person who is really profoundly humane can believe in everlasting punishment.
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Disambiguation notice
This work refers to the collection of essays titled Why I Am Not a Christian and Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects, ed. Paul Edwards, first published in 1957. The contents  of the First British and American editions are slightly different but both belong here. Please do not combine with separate editions of the essay "Why I am not a Christian" or with other collections which contain completely different essays than the ones selected by Paul Edwards.
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Wikipedia in English (4)

While its tone is playful and frivolous, this book poses tough questions over the nature of religion and belief. Religion provides comfortable responses to the questions that have always beset humankind - why are we here, what is the point of being alive, how ought we to behave? Russell snatches that comfort away, leaving us instead with other, more troublesome alternatives: responsibility, autonomy, self-awareness. He tells us that the time to live is now, the place to live is here, and the way to be happy is to ensure others are happy.

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Book description
"Perchè non sono cristiano" affronta con spregiudicata libertà di pensiero un argomento di grande interesse: il sentimento religioso. Russel, pensatore ateo per eccellenza, analizza con semplicità e chiarezza di esposizioni origini, valori e significati della religione cristiana. Un testo imprescindibile per credenti e non credenti, uno dei "classici" più letti di Russell.
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