"The Emotional Factor"
• Often paraphrased as "The Christian religion has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world."

You find as you look around the world that every single bit of progress of humane feeling, every improvement in the criminal law, every step toward the diminution of war, every step toward better treatment of the colored races, or even mitigation of slavery, every moral progress that there has been in the world, has been consistently opposed by the organized churches of the world. I say quite deliberately that the Christian religion, as organized in its churches, has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world.

— Bertrand Russell

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "You find as you look around the world that every single bit of progress of humane feeling, every improvement in the criminal law, every step toward the diminution of war, every step toward better treatment of the colored races, or even mitigation of slavery, every moral progress that there has been in the world, has been consistently opposed by the organized churches of the world. I say quite deliberately that the Christian religion, as organized in its churches, has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world." in the context of ""The Emotional Factor"
• Often paraphrased as "The Christian religion has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world."" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Bertrand Russell" (Quotes, 1920s, Why I Am Not a Christian (1927)) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed February 08, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Bertrand Russell

About Bertrand Russell

Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell (May 18, 1872 – February 2, 1970) was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, and social critic. In 1950, he was awarded a Nobel Prize in Literature.