• What conclusion should we draw from the fact that the churches have continuously resisted new scientific advances, then ultimately conceded – only to again do forlorn battle at the next pass?
• Piling up randomly gathered stories of silly opinions and behavior based on religious reasoning does not, of course, establish any argument against religion. However, there is an inductive point underlying all this amusement Russell is having. Religion is frequently invoked as a source of permanence with respect to values. In this context, it seems significant to be reminded that almost every generation finds the religious interpretations of one or two generations previous with respect to morality funny.
• “As soon as we abandon our own reason, and are content to rely upon authority, there is no end to our troubles. Whose authority? The Old Testament? The New Testament? The Koran? In practice, people choose the book considered sacred by the community in which they were born, and out of that book they choose the parts they like, ignoring the others” (pp. 92-93.
• There are two main features common to the whole parade of foolish beliefs surveyed in this essay – and not just those connected with religion, but also those underlying racism, nationalism and resentment of divergent lifestyles. First, the beliefs in question are based almost entirely on mimicry of others' beliefs, and scarcely at all on evidence. Second, the beliefs primarily serve the function of serving the solidarity of groups of people by defining their identities against other groups. This is the main basis of human culture. It is for this reason, and not out of a generic skepticism, that philosophers generally regard most widespread human beliefs about most things as being false.