It turns out that refuting the arguments for god’s existence—and dispelling the notion that Jesus is the paragon of moral excellence—is not all that challenging of a job, and, for someone with the intellect of Bertrand Russell, can be done in about 25 pages. That’s the first part of the book, containing the essay “Why I Am Not a Christian.” It’s not the most rigorous critique of religion, but it doesn’t have to be—refutations of theistic arguments can be explained to and understood by children. (For example, consider the fallacious “first cause” argument, which claims that nothing can exist without a cause, but then says, wait, never mind, god can.)

Russell also avoids a pet peeve of mine—atheists who passively accept the idea that Jesus was a worthwhile moral teacher. As Russell makes clear—as would any re-reading of the Gospels from the perspective of cult psychology—Jesus is shown to be nothing more than a cult leader who love-bombs his recruits while simultaneously threatening eternal suffering for anyone else who dares to challenge his teachings (not to mention his exhortations to “hate your family” [Luke 14:16]).

Even Jesus’s more palatable teachings concerning love and tolerance are found in earlier religious and philosophical systems such as Buddhism, Taoism, and Stoicism (and therefore are not new), and the ideas that are truly unique to Jesus revolve around intolerance, hatred, and otherworldly violence for others who might think differently. The fact that this is widely considered to be wise or upstanding behavior is puzzling, to say the least.

Russell also correctly points out that, historically, organized churches were and are the first to oppose any kind of moral progress or advances in human happiness. As Russell wrote:

“There are a great many ways in which at the present moment the Church, by its insistence upon what it chooses to call morality, inflicts upon all sorts of people undeserved and unnecessary suffering. And of course, as we know, it is in its major part an opponent still of progress and of improvement in all the ways that diminish suffering in the world, because it has chosen to label as morality a certain narrow set of rules of conduct which have nothing to do with human happiness.”

The next part includes Russell’s short book “What I Believe.” Here Russell outlines his prescription for the good life:

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

We know what love without knowledge looks like. The prototypical example of good intentions gone horribly wrong would be Christian parents withholding life-saving medication from their child in favor of prayer, resulting in the child’s death. Love without knowledge is clearly not sufficient.

What about knowledge without love? A good example would be the prosecution of a successful military campaign in an unjust war. Here, military knowledge may have led to ultimate victory, but a lack of love and compassion for other human beings leads to death and destruction.

Clearly, love and knowledge are both necessary for the good life. But perhaps we could expand on Russell’s definition a little:

“The good life is one inspired by love, guided by knowledge, and directed towards the pursuit of meaningful goals.”

It’s probably not enough to have love and knowledge without putting those things to work. Whether it's starting a family and raising children or, for instance, becoming a doctor to help others, the good life is one filled with actions and deeds in pursuit of meaning and purpose, not simply one of contemplation and feeling.

Nevertheless, Russell has the right idea. We can use science to enhance the well-being of ourselves and others, but only if we can learn to extend our natural compassion (demonstrated by our natural love for our children and immediate family) to a wider group of people based on our common humanity. But this probably requires that we abandon the religions and ideologies that only seek to divide humanity into the “good” and the “bad,” the sinners and the saved.

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Why I Am Not a Christian and What I Believe (Warbler Classics Annotated Edition)