“Bone cancer in children,” said Stephen Fry. “What’s that all about?”
It was his answer to a question from Irish TV presenter Gay Byrne as to what Fry might say to God should he ever meet him, a ridiculous question if ever there was. An omnipresent, omnipotent celestial dictator who has created everyone and everything but either can’t do anything to affect the world, unless he is simply choosing not to. In which case…
God hasn’t had a very good day today. The utterly repulsive murder of fellow muslim Moaz al-Kasasbeh by the islamic fascists of ISIS makes the headlines, but just below it comes the story of how the Church of England and the Catholic church were opposed to a new technique that stops genetic diseases being passed from mother to child. Quite separate matters of course but examples of how pernicious religion can be. And everyday it’s the same, whether it’s assisting dying, the cruel religious slaughter of animals, the kidnapping of young girls, perverted priests getting away with child rape. No, not all religions are the same in terms of sheer evil but this isn’t a contest.
I’m sick to the back teeth of religion poking its nose in so many aspects of our lives. If I listen to BBC radio, I have to put up with some godwhacker giving me her/his religious thought for the day, if something major happens in our country there is always a church service to celebrate or commemorate, if there is a matter of some importance you can bet your bottom dollar that some religious flunkey will be asked about it.
The truth, as Richard Dawkins pointed out, is that all of us, even believers, are atheists towards most other Gods but some of us go one God further.
The murder of Moaz al-Kasasbeh is a low point in human history but it’s not exactly a high point in the history of religion, is it?
