In God's name?

As a frequently-reconsolidated and hardened atheist, still I cannot yet believe this to be irrefutable proof of an absence of God. I think that perhaps Stephen Fry, as well as most, elaborated upon the possible existence, or not, of such an omniscient Being. He said "Bone cancer in children, what's that about? Why should I respect such a capricious, mean-minded and stupid God? (He created) a world so full of injustice and pain. (He is) an utter maniac, totally selfish. We have to spend our lives upon our knees, thanking Him? What kind of God would do that?"

A God Who might 'design' with such vindictive 'embellishment' is a God we should all have cause to fear! Far better that He/She is not there at all.



I hope and believe that Stephen was making more the point that 'evidence,' such as it 'exists,' appears to strongly refute- strongly!- the existence of any benign God, rather than that he was sharing his rehearsed statement to a hoped-fictitious and vindictive Deity.

If Stephen's referenced God is an accurate and an actual portrayal, then we are all well and truly damned and for all of eternity! Stephen does not need to elaborate that any such omnipotent Being will be most unlikely to be honouring any sort of pious Earthly 'deal,' those as prescribed by any of the Holy texts.

Let us pretend, for a moment and for the purposes of theological discourse, that any God is viable- religious bods have ever sought to skew the (lack of) evidence to be so- and thus attempt to comprehend His/Her aesthetic.

God, we are encouraged to blindly accept, has created us. Thus, He must also have furnished us with free thought. But He has forbidden us to use this free thought in order to scientifically question the merest concept of 'creation.' So, this Presence has gifted us with a talent that we are effectively barred from employing to its fullest potential? We must accept that He created us to suffer, but we are not to question His arbitrary choices. We must highly praise His gifts, but we are not permitted to even begin to comprehend His more destructive whims. God's disciples may scatter weaponry like seeds across the land, they might mutilate babes-in-arms that they cannot fully experience sexual union, they might embellish their own palaces with yet one more 24 carat skin, whilst the minions- expressly forbidden contraception- must contemplate malnutrition en masse. The religious texts may permit one to scrape up the excrement of one's betters, but not to shake their hands. In gratitude for working one's fingers to the bone one may well be required to stumble, sleep-deprived, to the temple, also late into the night and yet again before dawn, lest one should forget His benevolence. As the call to prayer yet again shatters a peace that God also designed- perhaps entirely that He/She might deny any appreciation of the same- one might be forgiven for assuming oneself to be no more than a minor character in a living diptych by Hieronymus Bosch.



Detonate yourself before a class of infants and God will personally ensure you a minor role as the slightly-less remarkable 24th of 72 virgins, to the sort of man who will 'bravely' burn another human in a steel cage.

Perhaps this may not be irrefutable proof of an absence of God. Certainly it's proof that such a foot-soldier has not signed up to serve any sort of benign God. We should all hope beyond hope that this monster's God is not also to be our's.

In God's name? Please, let it not be so!