Russell then concludes that he cannot be a Christian as he doesn’t think that Christ was the greatest or wisest of all men, let alone God incarnate. To remove any doubt on the issue, he explains that he finds both the Buddha and Socrates to be wiser and more moral than Christ was.
But he at least agrees that religion makes us better people, right?
Not in the least.He instead thinks that dogma and religiosity tend to make us worse people, noting how the times in European history which were the least pleasant to live in were the ones which had the most intense religious belief.Russell then explains his understanding that most people follow a religion not because they determined that it was the logical thing to do but because of an emotional attachment to it. This motivation wasn’t enough for Russell, nor is it enough for many people today. Given the failures of the above proofs and moral arguments to convince him, he sees no reason to hold on to these beliefs and instead sought to find what could persuade him. He settled on a scientific, humanistic worldview.
