What would Stephen Fry say if he came face-to-face with God?
That was the question posed to the famed atheist on RTE’s 'The Meaning Of Life' on Thursday. Fry's response was as forceful as it was clear.
“How dare you?” he said to a stunned Gay Byrne.
The recently married actor, 57, than launched into a stunning oratory about how if there were a God he would be the “utterly, utterly evil".
"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?
“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.”
The veteran broadcaster looked shocked by Fry's answer
Byrne, now 80, looked astonished, eventually asking Fry if he thinks he’s “going to get in [to heaven]” after such a tirade?
"But I wouldn't want to," replied Fry. “I wouldn't want to get in on his terms.”
Here's Fry taking part in a 2009 debate alongside the late Christopher Hitchens, dismantling the Catholic Church in 8 minutes and 52 seconds.
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Fry, along with actor Benedict Cumberbatch and gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, have made news separately this weekend in an open letter calling for a pardon for 49,000 men prosecuted because of their sexuality.
In a letter to the Government and published in The Guardian, campaigners are calling for the royal family to act and convince the Government to pardon all those convicted under the outdated law. It states: "The UK's homophobic laws made the lives of generations of gay and bisexual men intolerable.
"It is up to young leaders of today including The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to acknowledge this mark on our history and not allow it to stand.
"We call upon Her Majesty's Government to begin a discussion about the possibility of a pardoning all the men, alive or deceased, who like Alan Turing, were convicted."
The letter is also signed by Morten Tyldum, director of The Imitation Game, Rachel Barnes, Alan Turing's niece, and Matthew Todd, editor of Attitude Magazine. They write: "Alan Turing was one of the greatest heroes of the 20th century, a man whose work on the machines that deciphered the Enigma codes helped win World War II and who was pivotal in the development of modern computers.
"Winston Churchill said Alan Turing 'made the single biggest contribution to the Allied victory in World War II'."
The Queen granted the scientist a posthumous pardon under the Royal Prerogative of Mercy in 2013. But the campaigners say this should be extended to all men who fell foul of the law.
It states: "The apology and pardon of Alan Turing are to be welcomed but ignores over 49,000 men who were convicted under the same law, many of whom took their own lives. An estimated 15,000 men are believed to still be alive."
Their petition has been signed by 40,544 people.
Correction: An earlier version of this story said the debate with Hitchens was in 2012. It was in 2009.