(This photo of British actor and author Stephen Fry is from The Guardian.)There is a silly question that religious people love to ask us atheists -- What will you say to god if you are wrong? I have always thought this was a silly question because:
1. You don't talk to anyone after death.
2. There is absolutely no proof that any kind of god exists.
3. It's a pretty sick religion that needs the hope & fear of an afterlife to gain adherents.
But christians think they are somehow making a point by asking that question -- and recently, an Irish TV interviewer had the temerity to ask that question of actor, author, and noted atheist, Stephen Fry. After he insisted on an answer, Fry told him:
“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 which is so full of injustice and pain?” The interviewer pressed the question further, and Fry added:
“I would say: ‘bone cancer in children? What’s that about?’ “Because the God who created this universe, if it was created by God, is quite clearly a maniac, utter maniac. Totally selfish. We have to spend our life on our knees thanking him?! What kind of god would do that?” And then after being asked how he accounted for the wonders of the world, Fry said:
“Yes, the world is very splendid but it also has in it insects whose whole lifecycle is to burrow into the eyes of children and make them blind. They eat outwards from the eyes. Why? Why did you do that to us? You could easily have made a creation in which that didn’t exist. It is simply not acceptable. “It’s perfectly apparent that he is monstrous. Utterly monstrous and deserves no respect whatsoever. The moment you banish him, life becomes simpler, purer, cleaner, more worth living in my opinion.” I thought those were great answers, and I still wonder why anyone would even want to believe in such a god? And why do christians feel the need to impose their fear of death (and an afterlife) on reasonable people?
