Irish police open blasphemy investigation into Stephen Fry for calling God an "utter maniac"



Living treasure and outspoken atheist Stephen Fry has a classic bit from a two-year-old episode of RTE's "The Meaning of Life" in which he answers the question, "What would you say to God if you died and found yourself at the gates of heaven?"


Fry's answer begins, "How dare you create a world in which there is such misery that is not our fault? It's not right." He enumerates God's many sins: "Bone cancer in children? What's that about?"

Two years later, Fry is now the subject of a police investigation in Ireland for the antiquated crime of "blasphemy." It's not clear why the investigation was launched, and the Gardai aren't commenting.


According to the Irish Independent the comment were originally reported to police in 2015. The complainant is said to have followed up last year, and to have received a phone call from a detective some weeks ago to discuss the case.

The paper quoted a source as saying a prosecution was unlikely.


Stephen Fry under police investigation for blasphemy after branding God an 'utter maniac' [Jon Sharman/The Independent]


(via Reddit)

(Image: Matt Lee, CC-BY-SA)