"What would you say to god?"

[CornishChris 5]

Stephen Fry, the English comedian and vocal atheist, being interviewed in Irish TV was asked what he say to god if he was indeed wrong and ended up at the pearly gates. His response is pretty bang on, in my opinion. Basically "How dare you!"

I really like this guy!

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/celebritynews/stephen-fry-god-is-evil-meanminded-and-stupid-10013120.html

Quote

The QI presenter calls the Christian deity "evil", "monstrous" and "stupid" in a clip from an Irish TV show set to be aired this weekend.
Host Gay Byrne asks the 57-year-old, who is well known for his atheism, what he would do after his death if he arrived at the "pearly gates" to find that God really does exist.

Fry responds: "I'll say: bone cancer in children, what's that about?
"How dare you how dare you create a world where there is such misery that's not our fault? 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?"

Asked if he thinks he'll get in to heaven, he replies: "No, but I wouldn't want to," before saying he prefers the religion of the ancient Greeks whose gods were more modest about the capabilities.

Faced by an interviewer who is visibly taken aback, he adds: "The god who created this universe, if he created this universe, 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, but it also has in it insects whose whole life cycle is to burrow into the eyes of children and make them blind."
After Fry concludes that the Christian god is "monstrous and deserves no respect", his interviewer says: "That sure is the longest answer to that question that I ever got in this entire series."

The interview, part of a show called The Meaning Of Life, will air on RTE, Ireland's public service broadcaster on Sunday.

According to a census carried out in 2011, nearly 85 % of the population of Republic of Ireland is Roman Catholic.

CJP

Gods don't kill people. People with Gods kill people

[jclalor 12]

What would I say to God? Could you please move this thread to SC.

[Niki1 1]

Someone here has a sig line that seems appropriate. "What would the world be like if there were no hypothetical questions?"

But I'll play the game. I'd ask, "Where are the neighbors? You stuck us in this place with rules that make it impossible to visit them."

Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done.
Louis D Brandeis

Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

[Tink1717 2]

He was much kinder to the interviewer than I would have been.

Skydivers don't knock on Death's door. They ring the bell and runaway... It really pisses him off.
-The World Famous Tink. (I never heard of you either!!)
AA #2069 ASA#33 POPS#8808 Swooo 1717

[wolfriverjoe 1,456]

How about "Who died and made you God?"

"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

[devildog 0]

For the sake of the hypothetical set up, if confronted with an omnipotent being that literally created everything we know, sees all of the past and the future, etc. I'll put my money on Byrne not being nearly as brave and flippant as he'd like to pretend he'd be--especially if God is as wrathful as he likes to assert he is. He'd probably cower in a puddle of pee.

In fact, if God does exist, the idea that He's not tormenting Byrne already in total agony really defeats Byrne's own supposition that God is some sort of total monster (if exists) since said, crazy, stupid, angry, vengeful god would be tearing into Byrne for such remarks (ala the old Greek and Roman gods who did so all the time).

You stop breathing for a few minutes and everyone jumps to conclusions.

[champu 1]

devildog

In fact, if God does exist, the idea that He's not tormenting Byrne already in total agony really defeats Byrne's own supposition that God is some sort of total monster (if exists) since said, crazy, stupid, angry, vengeful god would be tearing into Byrne for such remarks (ala the old Greek and Roman gods who did so all the time).

Point of clarification: Byrne is the host of the show. Fry is the one answering the question.

That aside, you're mixing a supposition (God's existence, period) with real-world results (Fry not being smitten) to conclude that God must not be evil, but there's a fallacy there. All you can really conclude is that there is no such all powerful God that is so vengeful that He would surely smite Fry for saying what he said, because if there was He would have done so. That is a tautology.

It's remarkably easy to disprove by test/demonstration the existence of any God to which you assign concrete human-like personality traits. If, however, anyone wants to believe in a god whose personality, action, and will are defined solely by the collection of observable physical laws of the universe, then have at it.