In a world where it really is taboo to be seen as defending the existence of God I’m going to go ahead anyway.  Although no defense is really needed but for the interest of this blog ergo improving my writing I shall give it a stab (oops another cliché. I am certain that clichés will be replaced with wittier lines as I close in on the million word mark – see previous post).

So what happens when someone, deemed an intellectual, contests provocatively the existence of God?  Of course that someone, in the public eye, will have more than some sway and influence within society and will create a spectrum of emotion amongst the masses.  Of course they will be aware of the power words have and how they will be held by their audience.  And of course I am referencing Mr Fry’s attempt to discount the existence of God with his one simple line “Bone cancer, what is that about?”  Which is said with so much concern that one is to believe Mr Fry must be more compassionate than God!  Ironically I do wonder if Mr Fry ever thought about where compassion and love comes from within humans.  It certainly not something science can explain conclusively.

Nevertheless it is a serious question that is brought forth.  Mr Fry is demonstrating his concern for children must be greater than God’s concern for these same children who seem to be forsaken by Him, if he exists hypothetically.  How dare God even bring such a disease or any disease for that matter to the world?  For surely we are inherently good, all of us – or most of us – that don’t deserve to be thrown into the pit like this.  A world peppered with murder and hate.  Let’s ignore the fact that many of us experience love, joy and laughter in our lives too.  No – Mr Fry is challenging the logic of those who believe in God to answer this question. “Bone cancer in children.  What’s that about?”

Unlike Mr Fry, I believe that all diseases and disasters are both directly and indirectly a consequence of mankind’s actions.  Whether it’s pollution in the air, chemical in the food to ignoring the plight of our poor neighbours; consequences happen as a result of distorting and/or ignoring the natural harmony of life around us and within us.  Call it an absence of good since evil doesn’t really exist like darkness is an absence of light.

Some consequences we can explain easily others not so.  Adults have a responsibility, if not for ourselves, for our children’s sake and the generations to come to continue endeavouring to search, learn and apply methods and cures that are available to use (how convenient for us) for all our self-inflicted problems and disasters.

But what is most interesting is listening to Mr Fry’s last statement.  He believes that only in dismissing the God figure does he find peace.   Yet bone cancer in children still exists.  Suffering still exists but apparently it is through disbelief in God that peace is attained.  Yet if God does exist then even the dismissal of God by the individual will surely have its own natural consequences.  So too is eating an extra slice of cake….