Original: Why I Am Not a Christian is a 1927 essay by the British philosopher Bertrand Russell hailed by The Independent as '' devastating in its use of cold logic '' , Amazon entry and listed in the New York Public Library 's list of the most influential books of the 20th century .
Simplified: It was published that year as a pamphlet and was later published , with other essays , in the book , Why I Am Not a Christian : And Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects ( ISBN 0-671-20323-1 ) .