'Why I am not a Christian' – humanist philosopher Bertrand Russell. Bertrand Russel died on this day 1970. One of the 20th century’s most influential public intellectuals, Russell was a logician, philosopher, activist, and lifelong humanist who believed that 'the good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge.' In his famous 1927 lecture Why I Am Not a Christian, Russell set out a clear, compassionate, and rigorous critique of religion – rejecting superstition and absolutism, and argu