WAS THE PATRIARCH ABRAHAM JUST A STORY?  DID ABRAHAM EXIST?  You decide:

From: http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/amen/a/122710-CW-Archaeological-Evidence-About-The-Story-Of-Abraham-In-The-Bible.htm

Historians date Abraham’s bibilical story around 2000 B.C., based on clues in Genesis Chapters 11 through 25. Considered the first of the biblical     patriarchs, Abraham’s life history encompasses a journey starts that in a place called Ur. In Abraham’s time, Ur was one of the great city-states in Sumer, a part of the Fertile Crescent located from the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in Iraq to the Nile in Egypt. Historians call this era from 3000 to 2000 B.C. “the dawn of civilization” .

It turns out that Abraham in the Bible is undoubtedly just a story.

Abraham in the Bible:  Promotion of lands surrounding and now occupied by Israel began a long time ago in the Old Testament. The Judean scribes did their writing in about 700 BCE, referring to happenings that supposedly existed  more than about a thousand years prior to when they were writing. Abraham in the Bible has al the markings of being just a made-up  story:

From the Highly Recommended book, by  W.H. Uffington,  “The Greatest Lie Ever Told”, available on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Greatest-Lie-Ever-Told/dp/0956798004 :

“With a sleight of hand – the one holding the pen – a new history, a new beginning was invented.  And to ensure that no one dared to question its authenticity, we are told that God himself had guided this hand. Fear turned the lie into unquestionable truth.

All the archaeological evidence shows that the people residing within the lands of Canaan were and always had been Canaanites….  There are no grounds for the argument that Abraham infiltrated the area around 2000 BCE. …

The answer is, of course, straightforward: rather than true and accurate eyewitness accounts of history, carefully passed down through the generations, the stories were just vague tribal myths and legends, eventually cobbled together by politically-motivated priests and scribes who were entirely ignorant of any real historical knowledge.

Christian Biblical scholars still insist upon the Bible’s historical authenticity, even pointing out that it is the accurate historical details in the stories which prove that they are genuine: an odd claim when the Bible is so full of his historical inaccuracies. Surely, if the proof is in the detail, then inaccurate detail will undermine the whole foundation. We find such an example of this small detail in Genesis 24, that talks of camels being taken through Mesopotamia; women, children and servants riding on camels and indeed, camels repeatedly crop up in the patriarchal stories. Yet we find that camels were supposedly, first domesticated at least 200 years after Abraham’s time and they were not used it all as beast of burden until about 1000 years later. Excavations of camel bones indicate that camels were used extensively in the seventh century BCE and became a common site around the Middle East, including Palestine.  The camel became a preferred means of transport just around the time when the first biblical stories were compiled.

The next anomalous detail is the reference to shekels as a means of payment: it is out of its historical era by a considerable margin. The shekel was not Canaanite but Hebrew; nor was it a coin, but a unit of weight, much later used as a silver coin. According to Herodotus the coin first appeared sometime after 550 BCE”

David and Solomon: (also from Uffington’s wonderful revealing book http://www.amazon.com/Greatest-Lie-Ever-Told/dp/0956798004):

Did the Great Empire of Solomon ever exist?

“If the great empire never existed,  what  of the great building programme undertaken by Solomon, surely this would support the biblical claims. The problem is, that modern archaeology has failed to find any great structures that might have been built by Solomon. In the past, the opposite was the case: early archaeologists hoping to prove the Bible to be true looked for anything that would confirm it, even if they were fairly liberal with the actual dating. …..Now we have the problem of Jerusalem itself – the capital of the great Solomonic empire. We are given the image of Jerusalem as a place of the impressive grandeur , having a magnificent Temple and a great gleaming palace to house Solomon’s 700 wives and 300 concubines, all protected behind huge stone fortress walls – a glorious fabled city which reflected the glory of God. Alas, it is all romantic nonsense. Despite extensive excavations, archaeologists have failed to locate any signs at all that there was ever a Solomon temple, or palace, or great fortifications….

David and Solomon

The harsh truth is, that both David and Solomon – if indeed they actually existed, which we must doubt since there is no contemporary evidence to support that they did – would have been little more than tribal chiefs. Considering the poverty of the region and its historical reputation for banditry both David and Solomon nestling in their remote hilltop village, could well have been bandit chieftains.

There is no real evidence to confirm that either of these two kings actually existed, but what we do have is legend, which came about following the story’s vigorous promotion by the later Judean state.

Indeed there WERE IMPORTANT Whistleblowers INSIDE Religion.

To name a few:

Arius for one who disagreed with Christ being divine, and said Christ was instead a “created being”.  (See below for more on Arius).

At the Nicene Council:

From: Did Constantine Decide What Books Belonged in the Bible?
http://www.gotquestions.org

“Constantine called the council of Nicea (which was the first general council of the Christian church, 325 A.D.) primarily because he feared that disputes within the church would cause disorder within the empire. The dispute in mind was Arianism, which was the belief that Jesus was a created being.”

At the end of the Council, the Council produced the Nicene Creed after much arm twisting and threats. Christ was made divine by a Vote! Arius was classed as a heretic. The Nicene Creed promoted the Trinity- “ - the deity of The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit under one Godhead, having three co-equal and co-eternal Persona.” (ibid)  It is said that at the end very few present believed what was written (i.e. the Nicene Creed).

What did Arius believe?

From: http://www.inplainsite.org/html/council_of_nicea.html

“In the populous Alexandria suburb of Baucalis, a well-liked presbyter by the name of Arius began teaching in opposition to the bishop of Alexandria, Alexander. Specifically, he disagreed with Alexander’s teaching that Jesus, the Son of God, had existed eternally, being “generated” eternally by the Father. Instead, Arius insisted that “there was a time when the Son was not.” Christ must be numbered among the created beings — highly exalted, to be sure, but a creation, nonetheless. Alexander defended his position, and it was not long before Arius was declared a heretic in a local council in 321.

This did not end the matter. Arius simply moved to Palestine and began promoting his ideas there. Alexander wrote letters to the churches in the area, warning them against those he called the “Exukontians,” from a Greek phrase meaning “out of nothing.” Arius taught that the Son of God was created “out of nothing.” Arius found an audience for his teachings, and over the course of the next few years the debate became so heated that it came to the attention of Constantine, the Emperor.

Having consolidated his hold on the Empire, Constantine promoted unity in every way possible. He recognized that a schism in the Christian church would be just one more destabilizing factor in his empire, and he moved to solve the problem.⁴ While he had encouragement from men like Hosius, bishop of Cordova, and Eusebius of Caesarea, Constantine was the one who officially called for the council. ”

Advisor to the Pope for 17 years becomes whistleblower:

http://beyondallreligion.net/2011/08/28/advisor-to-the-pope-exposes-bible-fraud-and-forgery/

17 YEAR ADVISOR TO THE POPE EXPOSES BIBLE FRAUD AND FORGERY

Retired highly regarded priest, who for 17 years (1980-1997) served as an advisor to the Pope,  exposes bible forgery and fraud.

Dr. Miceal Ledwith achieved distinction as a catholic theologian who received international recognition for academic and professional  accomplishment.  An esteemed professor of Systemic Theology, president of the University of Maymooth , Ireland (National University of Ireland-Author) and fulfilling a seventeen year appointment as advisor to the Pope on the Holy See’s international  Theological Commission.  Yet at the height of his career,  he walked away to pursue a completely different kind of spiritual life — one of humble, internal initiation and transformation

“Go to the Vatican Library today and look at the oldest manuscript that we have of the New Testament, which is known as the Codex Vaticanus’, and was probably one of the bibles commissioned by Constantine. Another one to look at is in the British Library called codex Sinaiticus’ which was discovered in Mount Sinai at St. Catherine’s Monastery.

Look at those two texts, both from the 4TH century, and try to find the famous story of Jesus rescuing the lady who is being stoned for adultery in John’s Gospel Chapter 8. It is a very powerful story, but it is not contained in either of those manuscripts, which means that story was inserted into the text of the New Testament for the first time at least as late as the 4^th century if not later. I can give you a hundred other examples.”

Martin Luther becomes a whistleblower on the Catholic Church and their selling of indulgences (The sale of indulgences applied to all Catholic citizens wishing to lessen their time in Purgatory), and against the Church’s wishes, translates the Bible from Latin into German.

From: http://www.greatsite.com/timeline-english-bible-history/martin-luther.html

“On Halloween of 1517, Luther changed the course of human history when he nailed his 95 Theses to the church door at Wittenberg, accusing the Roman Catholic church of heresy upon heresy. Many people cite this act as the primary starting point of the Protestant Reformation… though to be sure, John Wycliffe, John Hus, Thomas Linacre, John Colet, and others had already put the life’s work and even their lives on the line for same cause of truth, constructing the foundation of Reform upon which Luther now built. Luther’s action was in great part a response to the selling of indulgences by Johann Tetzel, a Dominican priest. Luther’s charges also directly challenged the position of the clergy in regard to individual salvation. Before long, Luther’s 95 Theses of Contention had been copied and published all over Europe.”

Christ a superstition and a “fable”—Pope Leo X,  At a lavish Good Friday banquet in the Vatican in 1514. Raising a chalice of wine into the air, Pope Leo toasted:“How well we know what a profitable superstition this fable of Christ has been for us and our predecessors.

Above From: http://www.nairaland.com/372231/pope-leo-x-most-infamous

Later, Pope Paul III, expressed similar sentiments, saying that there was no valid document to demonstrate the existence of Christ. He confessed that “Jesus never existed”, adding that he was “no other than the sun, adored in its Mithraic sect…” Court of Justice, Viterbo,  Italy : no 45/b

http://www.luigicascioli.eu/traduzioni/en_proceso4.htm  (See last paragraph)

CURRENT WHISTLEBLOWER: BUTLER TO THE POPE.

 From: http://tinyurl.com/bp227ua

His health wasn’t the only thing that was bothering Pope Benedict XVI. The betrayal by his butler was apparently a constant source of distress, and could have been the last straw in a series of scandals that troubled the papacy, according to sources quoted by the New York Times.

The Pope’s former butler Paolo Gabriele, 46, went on trial last year after he leaked to a journalist confidential Vatican memos that revealed corruption and intrigue within the Holy See, which were later published in a book.

Gabriele was sentenced to 18 months in jail but was pardoned by the Pope after he wrote a letter begging for forgiveness.

 DIVINITY SCHOOL DROPOUTS

From: http://mentalfloss.com/article/17462/5-surprising-divinity-school-dropouts

JOSEPH STALIN (1879″“1953)

(Wanted to become a priest-Sam). “Lasting longer than the vast majority of divinity school dropouts, noted mass murderer Joseph Stalin studied at a Georgian Orthodox seminary in Tiflis (now Tbilisi) for five years, between 1894 and 1899.

He left the seminary either because of poor health (his mom’s story) or revolutionary activity (Stalin’s story). “   (official school records state he was unable to pay the tuition and withdrew-SAM)    “Either way, Stalin clearly didn’t take much of what he learned to heart. After he became the Soviet leader in 1922, he was responsible for the deaths of thousands of religious leaders, and Stalin did more than any other premier to eliminate the role of Christianity in Soviet life. But his seminary wasn’t exactly a study in Christian love, either. Prior to Stalin’s arrival, a rector was murdered there—possibly by unruly seminarians.”

 MICHAEL MOORE (1954″“ )

“Controversial documentary filmmaker Michael Moore began studying at a seminary in his hometown of Flint, Michigan, as an eighth grader in 1967. Brought up a devout Catholic, Moore aspired to a career as a priest, but he left the seminary the next year for thoroughly secular reasons. When the Detroit Tigers made it to the World Series in 1968, the seminary refused to let him watch the games—so he quit. Before his successful filmmaking career, in fact, Moore was something of a serial dropout. He dropped out of the University of Michigan because he arrived at school one morning and couldn’t find a parking place, and he once got a job at an automobile factory in Flint—but called in sick on his first day and never returned.”

Read the full text here: http://mentalfloss.com/article/17462/5-surprising-divinity-school-dropouts#ixzz2PsNeTrPJ
–brought to you by mental_floss!

(There are 3 more divinity school dropouts than those above – Al Gore, Tom Cruise, and Casanova.) (Tom Cruise wanted to be a Catholic priest when he was a teenager, but he recalls how he was asked to leave St. Francis Seminary at Cincinnati University as he was caught stealing alcohol.)

http://freethoughtnation.com/contributing-writers/74-barbara-g-walker/649-bible-morality-or-depravity.html

While we are on the subject of religion, to be fair, I must add for balance purposes: The Bible is not peaceful. The Koran is not peaceful. The Buddhists in Tibet were not peaceful, the Mormons: “Slit their Throats”-said Brigham Young… A rabbi said “a million Arabs are not worth one Jewish fingernail”.

The above said, let us move BEYOND ALL RELIGION, allowing the brilliant beacon of peace and truth to illuminate the world bringing love, tolerance and healing to all.

http://www.beyond all religion.net

Above transcript: (Selected portions)

VENTURA:   Because most every war that happens on this planet is due to the fact of religion. One religion doesn’t like the way another religion worships God, so we’re going to kill you.

I love religion, you know, and I say that sarcastically.

MORGAN: I know. I thought –

VENTURA: And I say that because — I’ve openly admitted I’m an atheist.

MORGAN: I thought you said earlier that all wars were about oil and corporations.

MORGAN: They are, but they’re all religious based too.

MORGAN: They’re all about religion and oil and corporations?

VENTURA: Could be. Sure.

………………..

A few more words from Ventura’s interview:

“All right. All right, OK. Let’s take my lifetime. I was born post World War II, 1951. Now if you count the Cold War and the war on drugs, which the war on drugs is a war I lived four months of the year in Mexico, 20,000 Mexicans, I believe, died last year as a result of the war on drugs.”

“Do you realize we’ve been at war my entire life? My entire life. We have been at war. Is that the role of the United States? Perennial war? At war all the time?”– Jesse Ventura

Ventura completes this round of the debate with Morgan with a quote from the guitar legend, Jimmy Hendrix, “When the power of love overtakes the love of power, then we’ll have peace.”

It is evident that Ventura, in his demonstrative manner,  desires what most all other caring human beings desire… WORLD PEACE!  Nothing wrong with that, right?  What people judge, in Ventura, is his delivery of the message.  At this stage of the game we need to be more attentive to the truth/facts and not so invested on personality.

Here is Ventura’s interview with Morgan on video:

QUESTION:

Why should WE favor or follow any organized religion?

THINK, if we didn’t  have religion, we would not have had:

**  The Crusades , where Christians burned alive Jews and Muslims together in Jerusalem.

**  The Inquisition, which lasted over 400 years.

**  The Salem witch hangings.

**  The “30 year War” between Protestants and Catholics

**  The violence and killings in Ireland between Catholics and Protestants.

**  The conflict between Hindus and Moslems, in India, including the formation of two states, India and Pakistan.

**  The assassination of the source of the above quote “God has no Religion”, Mahatma Ghandi.

**  The killings in Iraq between Sunnis and Shias.

**  The killings in Afghanistan between Sunnis and Shias.

**  The Holocaust.

**  The turmoil presently in the Mid-East between Israel and Palestine.

**  The possible war between Israel, the United States, and Iran.

If there were no organized religion, none of the above would have happened.

Think of it. None of the above.

“This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.”   Dalai Lama

“More violence has occurred in the name of religion than for any other reason.”  Deepak Chopra in New York Times Bestseller “The Book of Secrets”

“Religion is something we can perhaps do without.” - Dalai Lama From his book   Ethics for the New Millennium

Dalai Lama and Deepak Chopra quotes from new book by Samuel Butler, “Beyond All Religion”. 

 ”The liberty of man is not safe in the hands of any church. Wherever the Bible and sword are in partnership, man is a slave.”  Robert Green Ingersoll, in Some Mistakes of Moses:III: The Politicians

St. Bernard said, “It was easier for a man to bring the dead back to life than to live with a woman without endangering his soul.”  Since the beginning of time, the above is just one of the many discriminatory statements, toward women, written in religious text.

Does such benighted religious discrimination against women still exist? Indeed it does. Religiously sanctioned discrimination against women, and violence against women are still alive and thriving!

“The biggest obstacle to the equality of women in our society is the bible, the Genesis story in particular.”– Elizabeth Cady Straton,  Suffragette (1895 A Womens Bible)

Below are examples of religious scripture, prejudice,  and  violence against women today:

The Bible tells us that women are forbidden to wear men’s clothing (Bible, Deuteronomy 22:5). We read in the South African newspapers in the year 2007 CE, that women who dare to wear pants in some parts of Durban are stripped to their underwear or naked, beaten, and their houses burnt. All this for just daring to wear pants (read the newspaper report of this incident).

During 2007 CE in Pakistan a fanatical fundamentalist gunman killed a female politician for violating the Islamic dress code (read the newspaper report of this incident).

During 2002 CE a fire broke out in a large girl’s school in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The Religious police prevented girls who were improperly dressed, (according to the Islamic dress code), from leaving the burning school. The result was that 14 girls burned to death because they were improperly dressed according to the religious police, who actively prevented the fire brigade and police from helping these unfortunate girls. Shame! Unspeakable! Such monsters are no more than unspeakable instruments of a modern religion  gone awry (read the true report of this “incident”).

History of sex, marriage and celibacy in Traditional Religions:

• 325 AD:  The Council of Nicaea decreed that no priest will be allowed to marry after ordination.
• 385 AD:  Pope Siricius decreed that priests married before ordination must not make love with their wives afterwards.
• 590-604 AD:  Pope Gregory “The Great” decreed that all sexual desire was sinful and only for producing children.
• 1074 AD:  Pope Gregory VII decreed all priests must be celibate.

Examples of  hatred toward women written by Religious Figures:

• St. Paul in the first letter to Timothy decrees:  “But I suffer a woman not to teach, nor to usurp authority over a man, but to be in silence.  For Adam was first formed then Eve.”
• Tertullian:  “The judgment upon your sex even today; and with it inevitably endures your position at the bar of justice.  (Woman) you are the gateway to hell.”
• St. Jerome, Epistle 107:  “For my part I say that mature girls should not bathe at all, because they ought to blush to see themselves naked.”
• St. Gregory of Nazianzum:  “Woman – a foe to friendship, an inescapable punishment, a necessary evil.”  “Among save beasts, none is found so harmful as woman.”
• St. Clement of Alexandria:  “Every woman should be filled with shame by the thought that she is a woman.”
• The Gospel of Thomas 114: (Simon Peter) “Let Mary go forth from among us, for woman are not worthy of the life.”  (Jesus) “Behold, I shall lead her, that I may make her male, in order that she also may become a living spirit like you males.  For every woman who makes herself male shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
• Tertullian:  “You destroyed so easily God’s image, man.  On account of your desert – that is death – even the son of god had to die.”
• Boethius, a 6^th century Christian:  “Woman is a temple built upon a sewer.”
• Job 25:4:  “How then can man be justified with God?  Or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?”

At the Council of Macon in AD 585 the bishops voted that women had no souls.  At the Council of Trent (1545-1563) in Trento, Northern Italy, it took one day to decide than animals don’t have souls but 21 days to decide that woman actually do have souls. Woman-beating was a normal Christian man’s duty according to the Decretum of 1140, Fir Cherubino’s 15^th century rules of marriage, and quotes from Bishop Epiphanus in the 4^th century.  Anti-woman quotations appear in the Old Testament, Numbers 25, and in Deuteronomy 25:11.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 , American Standard Version (some say it is a forgery, added later by the Patriarchal Church, but it survives and IS in the Bible):

³⁴ let the women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but let them be in subjection, as also saith the law.

³⁵ And if they would learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home: for it is shameful for a woman to speak in the church.

What more about Islam?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taliban_treatment_of_women

Excerpt: “Afghan women were forced to wear the burqa at all times in public, because, according to one Taliban spokesman, “the face of a woman is a source of corruption” for men not related to them. In a systematic segregation sometimes referred to as gender apartheid, women were not allowed to work, they were not allowed to be educated after the age of eight, and until then were permitted only to study the Qur’an.

Women seeking an education were forced to attend underground schools, where they and their teachers risked execution if caught. They were not allowed to be treated by male doctors unless accompanied by a male chaperone, which led to illnesses remaining untreated. They faced public flogging and execution for violations of the Taliban’s laws”

Above is footage of a Woman executed in public on July 8, 2012. (Details of Public Execution) “The protection of women’s rights is critical around the world, but especially in Afghanistan, where such rights were ignored, attacked and eroded under Taliban rule,” the American embassy said in a statement on Sunday.  

The Taliban still control parts of Afghanistan, and have a safe haven in Pakistan. The Taliban changed their edict forbidding girls to be educated, but what remains shows the attitude and laws of radical Islam against women.

What about Mormonism?  Do Mormons discriminate against women?

Resolved Question (The Answer is yes, at Yahoo Answers).  http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=1006030805235

If not being allowed to be clergy and their jobs in the afterlife is being perpetually pregnant to populate their husbands planet and share him with other ‘wives’ is discrimination then the answer is yes.  Also: The Mormon position on women has changed little since the early 1800′s, when the official view was that “woman’s primary place is in the home, where she is to rear children and abide by the righteous counsel of her husband”

What about Judaism (Orthodox) and women?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/jun/10/judaism-women-feminism-orthodox

There is however, a deep conflict between Judaism and feminism which stretches from the public (in synagogue) to the private. For example, in all Orthodox synagogues men pray separately from women and in many women are relegated to an upstairs gallery. Gender hierarchies are entrenched in Jewish thought: a blessing orthodox Jewish men are required to say everyday thanks a God “who has not made me a woman”.

So, once again, the chilling question, “Why should or would a woman be loyal to, or follow, or support a religion that is biased against her and all women in general?”  

How about alternatives to these biased religions?  Do a search on “Beyond all Religion”, and/or “Secular Humanism”, or just simply live a life of compassion, kindness and love.  No god needed.

Nothing, and the last of the scrolls have been dated to approximately 68 AD, 35 years after the year ascribed to the Crucifixion.

The scrolls were discovered in 1948, and the Vatican, after a Church Father was put in charge of the translation, suppressed the publication of the Scrolls for many years.

So, what DO the Dead Sea Scrolls say about Jesus?  Again: They don’t say anything about Jesus (or Christ).

From: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_do_the_Dead_Sea_Scrolls_say_about_Jesus#ixzz1yu8rrvsA

Pope Leo X (1513-1521

Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell

(Note: Russell described himself both as an agnostic^[61] and an atheist. For most of his adult life Russell maintained that religion is little more than superstition and, despite any positive effects that religion might have, it is largely harmful to people.)

(18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, and social critic.^[2] At various points in his life he considered himself a liberal, a socialist, and a pacifist, but he also admitted that he had never been any of these in any profound sense.^[3] He was born in Monmouthshire, into one of the most prominent aristocratic families in Britain.^[4]

Russell had a distinguished background: His grandfather Lord John Russell introduced the Reform Bill of 1832 and was twice prime minister; his parents were both prominent freethinkers; and his informal godfather was John Stuart Mill. Orphaned as a small child, Russell was reared by his paternal grandmother under stern puritanic rule. That experience powerfully affected his thinking on matters of morality and education. When you have endured such tragedies as Bertrand Russell has, at such a young age, the question of any authority or organized social order was always challenged, leading to the re-formation of the Ten Commandments.

Below is Russell’s secular revision of the Ten Commandments:

The Ten Commandments that, as a teacher, I should wish to promulgate, might be set forth as follows:

1. Do not feel absolutely certain of anything.
2. Do not think it worth while to proceed by concealing evidence, for the evidence is sure to come to light.
3. Never try to discourage thinking for you are sure to succeed.
4. When you meet with opposition, even if it should be from your husband or your children, endeavour to overcome it by argument and not by authority, for a victory dependent upon authority is unreal and illusory.
5. Have no respect for the authority of others, for there are always contrary authorities to be found.
6. Do not use power to suppress opinions you think pernicious, for if you do the opinions will suppress you.
7. Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.
8. Find more pleasure in intelligent dissent that in passive agreement, for, if you value intelligence as you should, the former implies a deeper agreement than the latter.
9. Be scrupulously truthful, even if the truth is inconvenient, for it is more inconvenient when you try to conceal it.
10. Do not feel envious of the happiness of those who live in a fool’s paradise, for only a fool will think that it is happiness.

I find it quit fascinating when I read about how people arrive to the life they have chosen to live.  Russell’s life story was colored with death and deep loss, from a very vulnerable age of 2, after the sudden loss of his mother. Soon after, his older sister died and several years later he lost his father and grandfather. By the time Bertrand was six he had lost four members of his immediate family– survived by one brother seven years older named Frank.

Stated in his autobiography, Russell, haunted by his ongoing romance with suicide,  overcoming such dark compulsions for tragedy, nonetheless,  he grew to be a world renowned humanist and prolific commentator of Religion.  Awarded-dismissed-married-imprisoned-divorced and married again four times over, Bertrand Russell lead of life of controversy and social-political reform.  Here is a synopsis on how he viewed Religion.

Russell’s Views on Religion:

“Russell described himself both as an agnostic^[61] and an atheist. For most of his adult life Russell maintained that religion is little more than superstition and, despite any positive effects that religion might have, it is largely harmful to people. He believed religion and the religious outlook (he considered communism and other systematic ideologies to be forms of religion) serve to impede knowledge, foster fear and dependency, and are responsible for much of the war, oppression, and misery that have beset the world. He was a member of the Advisory Council of the British Humanist Association and President of Cardiff Humanists until his death.^[62]“

Social Reformer

As with his philosophical stance, Russell’s positions on social issues developed as a reaction against extremes in his own experience. He believed that cruelty and an admiration for violence grew from inward or outward defects that were largely an outcome of what happened to people when they were very young. Pacifism could not be effected politically; a peaceful and happy world could not be achieved without deep changes in education.

Over the course of his long career, Russell made significant contributions, not just to logic and philosophy, but to a broad range of subjects including education, history, political theory and religious studies. In addition, many of his writings on a variety of topics in both the sciences and the humanities have influenced generations of general readers.  Russell summarized his personal philosophy by saying, “Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind.”

Overview of Russell’s Life

After a life marked by controversy—including dismissals from both Trinity College, Cambridge, and City College, New York—Russell was awarded the Order of Merit in 1949 and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950.

Noted for his many spirited anti-war and anti-nuclear protests, Russell remained a prominent public figure until his death at the age of 97.

• 1. A Chronology of Russell’s Life
• 2. Russell’s Work in Logic
• 3. Russell’s Work in Analytic Philosophy
• 4. Russell’s Theory of Definite Descriptions
• 5. Russell’s Neutral Monism
• 6. Russell’s Social and Political Philosophy
• Bibliography
  • Primary Literature: Russell’s Writings
  • Secondary Literature
• Other Internet Resources
• Related Entries

Interested readers may also wish to listen to sound clips of Russell speaking.