Actor-comedian Stephen Fry, an outspoken atheist, had an answer ready this week when asked what he’d say if “confronted by God.”
“Suppose it’s all true, and you walk up to the pearly gates, and you are confronted by God,” asked Gay Byrne, host of RTÉ One’s The Meaning of Life. “What will Stephen Fry say to him, her, or it?”
“I’d say, Bone cancer in children? What’s that about?” answered the 57-year-old Brit. “How dare you? How dare you create a world to 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?” Fry said. “That’s what I would say.”
More Must-Read Stories From TIME
- Meet TIME’s Newest Class of Next Generation Leaders
- After Visiting Both Ends of the Earth, I Realized How Much Trouble We’re In
- Google Is Making It Easier to Remove Personal Info From Search
- Oil Companies Posted Huge Profits. Here’s Where The Cash Will Go (Hint: Not Climate)
- Column: We Asked Hundreds of Americans About Abortion. Their Feelings Were Complicated
- A Short History of the Rise, Fall, and Rise Again of the Marcos Family
- Long-Lasting Birth Control Is Already Hard to Get. Advocates Worry It May Only Get Worse
- Who Should Be on the 2022 TIME100? Vote Now
Read More From TIME
