To be disappointed that Stephen Fry isn't....

[BertrandRussell]

....going to be tried for blasphemy? I was so looking forward to it!

Would have been amusing trial!

I don't think its stupid or intelligent people that dislike Fry, just people that either don't agree with some of his views (e.g. religious people) or people get annoyed because his tone is a bit condescending (which it often is). I like him, him and Laurie together were brilliant.

Never minded him (and liked him in Blackadder) but suddenly he was everywhere, an authority on everything. Even on women - remember when he said women don't really like sex, and consider it the price to pay for having a relationship? Ugh.

What is Frankie Boyle's opinion on celebrity atheists?!? I'm intrigued!

Also Interested in Frankie's views on that

pics.onsizzle.com/blasphemy-a-law-to-protect-an-all-powerful-supernatural-deity-6949161.png

Frankie Boyle objects to outspoken "judgemental" celebrity atheists. I think he was specifically targeting Ricky Gervase. I don't think Fry fits into that box at all, frankly.

I'm atheist. I don't think there's much mileage in telling people there's no God because bone cancer is evil. Especially since people who lose children young often turn to religion as a solace, so I find it really quite distasteful to use such awful experiences in his explanation. Why couldn't he use experiences from his own life, why did he have to pretend he too has some right to sit in judgement on other people's suffering and pronounce it proof that there is no God.

YABU OP. I'm delighted that a man with a complex mental health condition is saved the stress of a pointless law suit. I am also delighted that common sense has won the day.

I think Stephen Fry is pretty brilliant, I really hope that this will lead to an eventual repeal of this ridiculous law. Ireland needs to take a good hard look at the links it has with the church, I am an advocate of a secular society and anything that pushes us in this direction can only be a good thing. Everyone deserves religious freedom and freedom from religion !

"Why would he have an opinion on something he doesn't believe in?"

Eh?

Logic fail.

Ffs he was specifically asked what he would say if confronted by god !!! Have any of you whiners actually watched the interview or are you all afraid your heads will explode from the offensiveness ?

To be fair itsmine I think he was asked what he would say if he ended up in front of God. So his answer either had to be 'I wont' (which is what I would say!) or an answer that allowed for the existence of God but also explained why he didn't believe in God.

I do think engaging in questions like that never ends well. If you don't believe in God you don't believe, so to start hypothesising that if he exists he's evil is bizarre. That argument also doesn't work because of all the good and happiness in the world.

Well, because he was asked by the interviewer to imagine what he would say to god if it turned out that he did exist.

The bizarre thing is that on that (excellent) series, loads of the subjects have very complex attitudes to God, or the very idea of a God. Nobody was complaining about them.

Some of the interviews are great. I don't know if ppl in the UK can get them but the Majella O'Donnell one (wife of Daniel O'Donnell) was wonderful, as she spoke so candidly about her history of depression and suicidal thoughts and then getting cancer. Really inspirational.

He was asked a question and answered it.

Then someone chucked the toys because they didn't like the answer. Standard mn behaviour but Ireland seems to have laws allowing prosecution for it. Shameful.

Strong beliefs can't be shaken by disagreement - so why be offended if someone disagrees with your beliefs? If they were facts then the person not believing could be dismissed as a dick, but these are beliefs and so there is no arguing or proving. Cope with others not sharing them, why is that so hard?

My understanding is that the blasphemy law is included in the Irish constitution so there would have to be a referendum to have it removed. As it is so archaic there is no appetite for a referendum on just that issue and there hasn't been a referendum it could be tacked onto yet. Legal advice was that it needed clarification to stop people being proscecuted. So the 2009 law was drafted specifically to rule out most incidences that could be construed as the crime of blasphemy.

I've watched the interview and had no problem as a Christian with his words as I believe in religious freedom. Sadly something like this law brings the more... erm... earnest folk to the fore, who then make it more difficult for those people of faith who want to live at peace with others without prosecuting them for saying words we might not agree with.
I quite like SF, especially in early days with Hugh Laurie and I quite liked QI for a while too.

Ireland seems to have laws allowing prosecution for it. Shameful.

No, it doesn't. It's an offence which has been specifically written to be non-prosecutable, actually.

I do think engaging in questions like that never ends well. If you don't believe in God you don't believe, so to start hypothesising that if he exists he's evil is bizarre. That argument also doesn't work because of all the good and happiness in the world

Another logic fail. You have to engage with it because religion is a big part of the human world and that impacts hugely on non-believers. Religion isn't irrelevant to the atheists.

The argument works perfectly. Have you actually heard what he said?

Then someone chucked the toys because they didn't like the answer.

Or maybe, like the OP, they thought the resulting court case would be entertaining.

I'm guessing that his words were perfectly timed and intended to be provocative so as to challenge/highlight the Act which is already teetering on the edge of repeal?

Yes but religion isn't God, is it?

Religion is how people interpret the world around them by choosing to believe in a God or Gods. It's the human psyche, nothing to do with a deity. Acknowledging religion exists has nothing to do with acknowledging God. Otherwise Christians would have a hard time acknowledging Muslims.

Engaging with religious people does not involve entertaining the notion that there is a God. Because there isn't. Rather, it's to do with trying to understand why people choose to believe in a God.

Said God too many times!!