伯特蘭·亞瑟·威廉·羅素，第三代羅素伯爵（英語：Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell，1872年5月18日－1970年2月2日），OM，FRS，英國哲學家、 數學家和邏輯學家，致力於哲學的大眾化、普及化。

羅素的《我為什麼不是基督徒》裡面其中一句批評：
耶穌曾經說過： "不要抗拒邪惡，若有人打你的右頰，把左頰也轉向他。
"這不是新箴言或新原則， 在基督出生之前 約五、六百年，老子和佛就已經說過這一類的話了。

羅素更深入的批評基督教的道德問題：

我個人認為基督的道德人格上有一個嚴重的缺陷：相信地獄。
我覺得真正心地寬厚的人不可能相信永久懲罰的說法。
根據福音書中的敘述 ，基督的確相信永久的懲罰。
留心觀察的話，我們會不斷地發現基督對於不肯聽從基督的教誨的人，懷著一種仇念深重的憤恨>>>一種在傳教士身上不難發現的態度。
這種態度對於至善的品行多少有點損害。

蘇格拉底就不會有這種態度，他對於不肯聽他說話的人總是很有禮貌，採取這種態度比較配得上稱為聖人。
我想你們都記得蘇格拉底臨死前說了什麼話，也記得他平時對反對自己的人說些什麼話。

基督說："蛇以及蛇類的後代，你們豈能逃得過地獄的詛咒！ "
對不樂意受基督教誨的人說這句話，就我看來，態度有點不佳。
基督還說過一些關於褻瀆聖靈之罪的話，基督說："說話褻瀆聖靈的人，無論今生與來世都不能得到寬恕。 "
這句話在世界上造成了難以言喻的愁苦，因為人人都覺得自己多少有些褻瀆聖靈之處，此生來世都永難獲得寬恕。

我實在不認為一個天性仁慈的人會把這些恐懼的情緒帶入世界。
基督又說："人子將派遣基督的天使，把冒犯和行為不端的人聚集在王國之外，把他們擲入一爐熊熊烈火之中，讓他們哀號切齒。 "

基督繼續不斷地說一些關於哀號切齒的話，詩文中充滿了這些字眼，使讀者覺得期待別人哀號切齒顯然是一件相當快樂的事，否則基督不會這樣說個沒完沒了。

你們一定也記得關於山羊和綿羊的事。
基督再度降臨時將把山羊和綿羊分開，對山羊說："走開！ 你們這些受詛咒的，到永久的 地獄之火裡去！ "
又說："這些都將要走開，到永久的地獄之火裡去。 "
基督又說："假如你的手冒犯了你，就砍掉它。
殘廢地進入生活總比帶著雙手進入地獄的火焰中好，地獄裡的蛆永不死亡，火永不熄滅。 "
基督一再地重複這句話。

我必須說，這個地獄之火的懲罰教條，是一個慘無人道的教條，它把殘酷帶入這個世界，使人類的世世代代永受折磨。

福音書中的基督實在難辭其咎。
此外還有一些次要的事。 加達瑞恩的豬也是一個例子。
基督把魔鬼附在豬的身上，使豬沖下山坡跌入海裡，這樣對待豬實在不太仁慈。

諸位都知道耶是全能的，基督可以輕而易舉地驅逐魔鬼，但是既然神是全能的，基督可以輕而易舉地驅逐魔鬼，但是神偏要把魔鬼趕到豬的身體裡。

還有一件關於無花果樹的怪事，我對此事一向深覺困惑。
你們大概都記得那株無花果樹遭到了什麼樣的噩運。
"基督餓了，看見遠處有一株長著葉子的無花果樹，基督走上前去想找果子吃，但是只找到樹葉，因為結果實的季節還沒有到。
於是基督說：從現在起，永遠沒有人吃你的果實。 ......

 而彼得對基督說："看哪，主人！ 被你詛咒的那株樹正在凋謝。 "

這實在是一件怪事，不是結果的季節，怎麼能夠怪那棵樹。

我覺得無論在智慧方面或道德方面，基督都不是最優秀的，至少佛與蘇格拉底都在基督之上。

參考Bertrand Arthur William Russell 《Why I Am Not a Christian》

The Moral Problem
Then you come to moral questions. There is one very serious defect to my
mind in Christs moral character, and that is that He believed in hell. I do
not myself feel that any person who is really profoundly humane can believe
in everlasting punishment. Christ certainly as depicted in the Gospels did
believe in everlasting punishment, and one does find repeatedly a vindictive
fury against those people who would not listen to His preaching -- an
attitude which is not uncommon with preachers, but which does somewhat
detract from superlative excellence. You do not, for instance find that
attitude in Socrates. You find him quite bland and urbane toward the people
who would not listen to him; and it is, to my mind, far more worthy of a
sage to take that line than to take the line of indignation. You probably
all remember the sorts of things that Socrates was saying when he was dying,
and the sort of things that he generally did say to people who did not
agree with him.

You will find that in the Gospels Christ said, "Ye serpents, ye generation
of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of Hell." That was said to people
who did not like His preaching. It is not really to my mind quite the best
tone, and there are a great many of these things about Hell. There is, of
course, the familiar text about the sin against the Holy Ghost: "Whosoever
speaketh against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven him neither in this
World nor in the world to come." That text has caused an unspeakable amount
of misery in the world, for all sorts of people have imagined that they
have committed the sin against the Holy Ghost, and thought that it would not
be forgiven them either in this world or in the world to come. I really do
not think that a person with a proper degree of kindliness in his nature
would have put fears and terrors of that sort into the world.

Then Christ says, "The Son of Man shall send forth his His angels, and they
shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them which do
iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire; there shall be wailing
and gnashing of teeth"; and He goes on about the wailing and gnashing of
teeth. It comes in one verse after another, and it is quite manifest to the
reader that there is a certain pleasure in contemplating wailing and
gnashing of teeth, or else it would not occur so often. Then you all, of
course, remember about the sheep and the goats; how at the second coming He
is going to divide the sheep from the goats, and He is going to say to the
goats, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire." He continues, "
And these shall go away into everlasting fire." Then He says again, "If thy
hand offend thee, cut it off; it is better for thee to enter into life
maimed, than having two hands to go into Hell, into the fire that never
shall be quenched; where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched."
He repeats that again and again also. I must say that I think all this
doctrine, that hell-fire is a punishment for sin, is a doctrine of cruelty.
It is a doctrine that put cruelty into the world and gave the world
generations of cruel torture; and the Christ of the Gospels, if you could
take Him asHis chroniclers represent Him, would certainly have to be
considered partly responsible for that.

There are other things of less importance. There is the instance of the
Gadarene swine, where it certainly was not very kind to the pigs to put the
devils into them and make them rush down the hill into the sea. You must
remember that He was omnipotent, and He could have made the devils simply go
away; but He chose to send them into the pigs. Then there is the curious
story of the fig tree, which always rather puzzled me. You remember what
happened about the fig tree. "He was hungry; and seeing a fig tree afar off
having leaves, He came if haply He might find anything thereon; and when He
came to it He found nothing but leaves, for the time of figs was not yet.
And Jesus answered and said unto it: No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for
ever . . . and Peter . . . saith unto Him: Master, behold the fig tree
which thou cursedst is withered away." This is a very curious story,
because it was not the right time of year for figs, and you really could not
blame the tree. I cannot myself feel that either in the matter of wisdom or
in the matter of virtue Christ stands quite as high as some other people
known to history. I think I should put Buddha and Socrates above Him in
those respects.