British actor-activist Stephen Fry was
recently asked a question about God during an interview.
Fry, an outspoken atheist, appeared on
RTE One's The Meaning of Life, where host Gay Byrne asked:
“What would you say to God if you reached the gates of heaven?”
The recently
married, openly gay Fry
surprised his host with his response.
“I'd say, bone cancer in children?
What's that about? How dare you?”
“How dare you create a world in which
there is such misery that is not our fault. It's not right. It's
utterly, utterly evil. Why should I respect a capricious,
mean-minded, stupid God who creates a world that is so full of
injustice and pain? That's what I'd say,” Fry said.
“And you think you're going to get
in?” Byrne asked.
“No,” Fry answered. “But I
wouldn't want to! I wouldn't want to get in on his terms – they're
wrong.”
“The God who created this universe –
if it was created by a god – is, quite clearly, a maniac. An utter
maniac. Totally selfish. We have to spend our lives on our knees
thanking him? What kind of god would do that?”
“Yes, the world is very splendid,
yes. But it also has insects whose whole life cycle is to burrow
into the eyes of children and make them blind, that eat outwards from
the eyes.”
“Why did you do that to us? It is
completely unacceptable,” Fry added.
(Related: Benedict
Cumberbatch, Stephen Fry: Pardon UK gays persecuted alongside Alan
Turing.)