Russell begins by defining what he means by the term Christian and sets out to explain why he does not "believe in God and in immortality" and why he does not "think that Christ was the best and wisest of men", the two things he identifies as "essential to anybody calling himself a Christian".
Russell započinje definiranjem onoga što razumijeva pod pojmom kršćanina i nastoji objasniti zašto ne "vjeruje u Boga i u besmrtnost" i zašto ne "misli da je Krist bio najbolji i najmudriji čovjek", što su dvije stvari koje on identificira kao "bitne svakomu tko se naziva kršćaninom".