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Dedicated as few men have been to the life of reason, Bertrand Russell has always been concerned with the basic questions to which religion also addresses itself ? questions about man's place in the universe and the nature of the good life, questions that involve life after death, morality, freedom, education, and sexual ethics. He brings to his treatment of these questions the same courage, scrupulous logic, and lofty wisdom for which his other work as philosopher, writer, and teacher has been famous. These qualities make the essays included in this book perhaps the most graceful and moving presentation of the freethinker's position since the days of Hume and Voltaire.

"I am as firmly convinced that religions do harm as I am that they are untrue," Russell declares in his Preface, and his reasoned opposition to any system or dogma which he feels may shackle man's mind runs through all the essays in this book, whether they were written as early as 1899 or as late as 1954.

The book has been edited, with Lord Russell's full approval and cooperation, by Professor Paul Edwards of the Philosophy Department of New York University. In an Appendix, Professor Edwards contributes a full account of the highly controversial "Bertrand Russell Case" of 1940, in which Russell was judicially declared "unfit" to teach philosophy at the College of the City of New York.

Whether the reader shares or rejects Bertrand Russell's views, he will find this book an invigorating challenge to set notions, a masterly statement of a philosophical position, and a pure joy to read.

Preface to the Routledge Classics Edition
Editor's Introduction
Preface
Why I am not a Christianp. 1
Has Religion Made Useful Contributions to Civilisation?p. 20
Do We Survive Death?p. 42
Seems, Madam? Nay, it isp. 48
On Catholic and Protestant Scepticsp. 57
Life in the Middle Agesp. 65
The Fate of Thomas Painep. 70
Nice Peoplep. 84
The New Generationp. 92
Our Sexual Ethicsp. 102
Freedom and the Collegesp. 112
The Existence of God - a Debate Between Bertrand Russell and Father F.C. Copleston, SJp. 125
Can Religion Cure Our Troubles?p. 153
Religion and Moralsp. 164
How Bertrand Russell was Prevented from Teaching at the College of the City of New Yorkp. 166
Indexp. 213
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.

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.