 On the question of whether religion has impeded the advancement of knowledge and introduced harmful theories of morality, Russell writes equally plainly: “The objections to religion are of two sorts – intellectual and moral. The intellectual objection is that there is no reason to suppose any religion true; the moral objection is that religious precepts date from a time when men were more cruel than they are, and therefore tend to perpetuate inhumanities which the moral conscience of the age would otherwise outgrow” (A1957, 23). The conclusion to be drawn, says Russell, is that religious faith has served as a shield against the advancement of knowledge, both in ethics and in the sciences: “When two men of science disagree, they do not invoke the secular arm; they wait for further evidence to decide the issue, because, as men of science, they know that neither is infallible. But when two theologians differ, since there are no criteria to which either can appeal, there is nothing for it but mutual hatred and an open or covert appeal to force” (A1957, 173). Today, no one 