For an Irish TV program
On the short clip, Fry is asked by veteran Irish TV presenter Gay Byrne what he would say to God if he died and had to confront him.
In his imaginary conversation with God, Fry says he would tell him: “How dare you create a world in which there is such misery that is not our fault? It’s not right.
He goes further than I would because I don't believe that there is a god and there is no point in going that far. However I do agree with this:
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.
I remember when I did go to church that I questioned how could a good and loving god burden the world with so much pain and suffering, and this is what led me to my non-theist view. That it was somehow God's will didn't really explain it one iota.
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Just reading the words is too stark, so I have included the video so that the vocal inflections are clear.
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It has always been a viable question, to ask why it was needed to make so many suffer through no fault of their own. It is also a question that I have never had a satisfactory answer given to me. If there was intelligent design anywhere in the process of evolution, why, why would such things ever be done? Only if this was hell would an infant die in agonizing slowness. Only if this was hell would death and destruction from war be common place. If this was hell and designed to punish, then I might understand, however I would like to remember what I did before so as to be sent here.
If there is a God, I doubt that it cares all that much.