I read that as just a very wordy way of you saying that you DO know more about his beliefs, and where they fit into the spectrum of belief systems, than he did himself. Good for you. Forget about me for a moment.
In atheistic circles, Russell is revered. Widely.
What does that tell you?
That's a good standard for deciding what someone is - what
other people want to think they are.
For example, there are a lot of people here who think Randall Terry is a conservative, who revere him even. Of course, that doesn't make it so.