Bertrand's non-religious ‘godfather’ was the philosopher John Stuart Mill (the subject of Chapter 24). Sadly, he never got to know him as Mill died when Russell was still a toddler. But he was still a huge influence on Russell's development. Reading Mill's Autobiography (1873) was what led Russell to reject God. He had previously believed the First Cause Argument. This is the argument, used by Thomas Aquinas amongst others, that everything must have a cause; and the cause of everything, the very first cause in the chain of cause and effect, must be God. But Mill asked the question ‘What caused
...more
