Noted actor Stephen Fry appears in an episode of The Meaning of Life where he is asked a hypothetical question by presenter Gay Byrne. “Suppose it’s all true, and you walk up to the pearly gates, and you are confronted by God. What will Stephen Fry say to him, her, it?”
Fry responds with indignation, stating that he’d criticize God for the natural evils within the world. Fry explains that his atheism is founded not merely on the idea that there is no God, but that if there was a God, he’d be a monstrous and capricious creature. Despite his strong opinion, Fry remains his genial self, and the two men share a laugh at the end of the clip.
His response is one answer to an old theological question. We recently linked to a short animated clip by the BBC, “The Free Will Defence: A Good God vs The Problem of Evil”, that explores another response to this question.
Are there other answers you’ve found comforting in considering the clear evil in our world? Do you have other resources you like that tackle this online?
Posted by David Streever