Stephen Fry on God | The Meaning Of Life | RTÉ One

Gay Byrne: Suppose what Oscar believed in

as he died
in spite of your protestations.

Suppose it's all true, and you walk up to
the Pearly Gates

and you are confronted by God.

What would Stephen Fry
say to Him, Her, or It?

Stephen Fry: I will basically
- that is theodicee, I think -

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
which is so full of injustice and pain?

That's what I'd say.

GB: And you think you're going to get in?

SF: No, but I wouldn't want to.

I wouldn't want to get in on his terms.
They're wrong.

Now if I died and it was was Pluto, Hades

and it was the 12 Greek gods,
then I would have more

truck because the Greeks were...,
they didn’t pretend not to be human

in their appetites,
in their capriciousness

and in their unreasonableness.
They didn't present themselves

as being all seeing, all wise,
all kind, all beneficent.

Because the god who created this universe -
if it was created by a god -

is quite clearly a maniac,

utter maniac, totally selfish, total.
We have to spend our live

on our knees thanking him?
What kind of god would do that?

Yes, the world is very splendid,
but it also has in it insects

whose whole life cycle 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.

So, you know, atheism is

not just about not believing
there isn't...

not believing there is a god.
But on the assumption there is one,

what kind of god is he?
It's perfectly apparent.

He is monstrous, utterly monstrous,
deserves no respect whatsoever.

The moment you banish him,
life becomes simpler, purer, cleaner,

more worth living in my opinion.

GB: That sure is the longer answer
to that question

I got in this entire series.