Religion and Science
2. The Views of Bertrand Russell
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although they cannot be proved by experience ...
“(p. 132).
According to this clear admission on the part of
Russell, religion is not something, which cannot be
proved by argument: in the above quotation the
criterion held valid by him is the same criterion as is
used to prove the truth of religion.
What is more surprising is that Russell, although
indirectly admitting here that such inferential
arguments as he terms scientific do exist in favour
of religion, he actually rejects those arguments on
quite casual grounds.
Here I quote from his book,
Why I am Not a
Christian:
I think all the great religions of the world –
Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, and
Communism — both untrue and harmful. It is
evident as a matter of logic that, since they
disagree, not more than one of them can be
true. With very few exceptions, the religion
which a man accepts is that of the community
in which he lives, which makes it obvious that
