# B.R. Aficiados: Seeking quote exchange: Cleric, probably a bishop, gets owned by Bertrand Russell... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 6, 2017, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-r-aficiados-seeking-quote-exchange-cleric-probably-a-bishop-gets-owned-by-bertrand-russell/800905 "2017-11-06T18:58:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Find\_Friends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@Find\_Friends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Find_Friends)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2017, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-r-aficiados-seeking-quote-exchange-cleric-probably-a-bishop-gets-owned-by-bertrand-russell/800905/1 "2017-11-06T18:58:35Z")
If you can help me I’ll be very grateful. Could use answer by Thursday morning, if you can. I’m not sure whether this references a book. Probably not. So I’m leaving this question here, rather than Cafe Society… - Do you recall an exchange, perhaps part of a debate, of Russell with a bishop, which went badly for the latter? Russell was told at one point that he simply didn’t understand because he didn’t have the religious background, was a lifelong atheist, or words to that effect. He replied that he actually had a very religious upbringing, and added that he wondered whether the bishop had any early grounding in skepticism. Or some such biting response. I haven’t been able to find the bit of dialogue anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2017, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-r-aficiados-seeking-quote-exchange-cleric-probably-a-bishop-gets-owned-by-bertrand-russell/800905/2 "2017-11-06T19:26:22Z")
There’s a famous debate between him and Frederick(?) Copleston (Sp?) about the existence of god. I don’t know if that’s it or not. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2017, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-r-aficiados-seeking-quote-exchange-cleric-probably-a-bishop-gets-owned-by-bertrand-russell/800905/3 "2017-11-06T21:06:56Z")
I found a transcript of the debate and a quick scan didn’t show any similar exchange (it also appears to be on Youtube.) And to be frank, it’d be rather surprising for Copleston to advance that sort of argument to begin with. He would have understood Russell’s argumentative position almost as well as Russell did himself, and known full well that it didn’t depend on any deficiency of childhood experiences. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2017, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/b-r-aficiados-seeking-quote-exchange-cleric-probably-a-bishop-gets-owned-by-bertrand-russell/800905/4 "2017-11-06T22:09:21Z")
This reminds me of the _Courtier’s Reply_ from PZ Myers. One of the better things PZ ever wrote. You should be able to Google it easily.