What Rowan Williams has to say about Stephen Fry's views on God

The former Archbishop of Canterbury has responded to Stephen Fry's highly-publicised views on God.

Fry, in an interview on Irish television a fortnight ago, was asked what he would say to God if he had the chance to meet him at the Pearly Gates:

I’ll say, bone cancer in children, what’s that about? How dare you? How dare you create a world in which there is such misery that is not our fault? It’s not right, it’s utterly, utterly evil. Why should I respect a capricious, mean-minded, stupid God who creates a world that is so full of injustice and pain.

That’s what I would say.

Fry accused the Christian God, if he exists, of creating "a world in which there is such misery”.

Rowan Williams, in an interview on the BBC's Newsnight, responded by saying: "It would be a very, very stupid and insensitive person who never felt that."

As well as many people agreeing with Fry's sentiments, many were angered by and critical of his views. But Williams was more philosophical, telling Newsnight's Evan Davis:

It’s interesting that already in the Psalms and the book of Job, you’re beginning to have that kind of protest voice within religious communities.

It would be a very, very stupid and insensitive person who never felt that. But to me what’s mysterious is the fact that people in the heart of suffering, people who are alongside children with bone cancer still, somehow, maintain a faith, a trust of some kind.

And that has to be mysterious, that has to be something that makes one draw back a little bit from simply saying well ‘it’s all god’s fault and that’s it’. And I’d also rather like to hope that if Stephen Fry actually met god, he’d wait for the reply.

You can watch a segment of Williams' interview below: