And then any child can say, "Well then, if it's God, who made God?" And so on. There's the obvious prime one, which is what's actually known as the prime mover argument in religion, which is: if there is a universe, who made it? Someone must have - there must be a first cause. It's the simplest question we all ask about religion. STEPHEN FRY: It was favourable because I think that's an obvious question. STEPHEN FRY: Oh, it was mostly favourable by a huge amount. TONY JONES: Well it did on Twitter, didn't it? There was a viral explosion on Twitter. STEPHEN FRY: Especially, oddly enough, it gets you into trouble with "moral", "religious" people.
because honesty can get you into trouble across a range of things. And one of the biggest errors that you can commit in our times is to be honest if asked a question and I was honest. And so I made the mistake in the modern world, if you like, of saying what I thought. It's called theodicy, as I said, to justify the ways of God to man. And I'm not undermining the thinking that serious theologians do and the branch of scholarship that they embark on to try and justify pain and evil in the world. So, there is a lot of thinking to be done. It's just, well how can you begin to say there is a loving god and give children bone cancer so they howl and scream in agony and die? "Oh, because I want them in heaven." That's a ridiculous nonsense. STEPHEN FRY: I'm just saying: if there is a loving god, how come children get bone cancer? Answer me that. I'm talking about the universe as I see it. STEPHEN FRY: I didn't come to conceive of one.
TONY JONES: So tell us, for those who didn't see it, tell us how you came to conceive of an evil god, a mean-minded god. They're part of what are known as the Abrahamic religions, as I'm sure you know. There's the god that if you or I as people from a sort of British, Western tradition grew up with in a Sunday school environment that may be Episcopalian, Church of England, may be Catholic, may be Baptist, may be Methodist.
It's not a simple matter to talk about God. STEPHEN FRY: If you meet someone that you don't believe exists, what would you say? Well I would say, "How dare you." I mean, you know, it's a part of theology called theodicy which is to justify pain and evil on the Earth and still believe in a benevolent, omnipotent, omnipresent god, which is the one I guessed he was talking about. TONY JONES: We are talking about a Christian god. TONY JONES: It was of course, but he did also say, "If you meet him at the pearly gates". It's a hypothetical, as they say in America. This was the - the basic premise on which the question that an Irish journalist asked me - he said, "Well if you're wrong, Mr Fry, if you're wrong and there is a god, what would you say to him?" So the whole thing is a sort of a premise on a premise. STEPHEN FRY: No, not in the least, 'cause you see, I don't believe in God. TONY JONES: Now, did you come to regret the denunciation earlier this year of an utterly evil, capricious, mean-minded and stupid god? TONY JONES: Stephen Fry, good to see you again.
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? How dare you create a world in which there is such misery that is not our fault. STEPHEN FRY, ACTOR & WRITER: I'd say, "Bone cancer in children - what's that about? How dare you. I began by asking him about the fallout from the now-famous television interview he did earlier this year with veteran Irish broadcaster Gay Byrne who asked the famous atheist what he'd say to God if it turned out he did exist. And I caught up with Stephen Fry in Melbourne today. He's in Australia to tour his stage show, Telling Tales, starting in Melbourne this week - or a week from now, I should say.
TONY JONES: You could be forgiven for asking: is there anything Stephen Fry can't do?įrom his Cambridge Footlight days, he started out as a comedian and actor with credits including Blackadder and The Hobbit trilogy, but he's also an accomplished documentary maker, playwright and author of four novels and three memoirs.Īside from his almost 12 million followers on Twitter, a good indication of Stephen Fry's immense popularity is the public dismay when he announced recently he was stepping down from hosting the hit TV show QI. Good heavens no, I could bore you and disgust you, horrifically with talk about sex. TONY JONES: Are you shy to talk about it? TONY JONES: Perhaps I'm wrong in this but one of the things I think you haven't spoken a lot about is sex. Where he talks about god, cocaine, what the Queen thinks about same sex marriage. We're devoting the entire show to a very frank - and funny - interview with Stephen Fry. TONY JONES, PRESENTER: Something a bit different tonight on Lateline.