Stephen Fry

[[File:Stephen Fry at Berlinale 2024 Ausschnitt.jpg|thumb|165px|Stephen Fry in 2024.]]{{skepnav|1}}
Sir '''Stephen Fry''' {{lived|1957|}} is a [[British]] actor, comedian, director, and [[author]] who also happens to be a [[gay]] [[skeptic]]al [[humanist]]<ref>[http://humanism.org.uk/2010/02/04/news-447/ Stephen Fry: “it is essential to nail one’s colours to the mast as a humanist.”]</ref> [[atheist]].<ref>[http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2012/08/stephen-fry-i-use-ubuntu Stephen Fry: “I Use Ubuntu”]</ref> Fry is well known for hosting the quiz show ''QI'' and starring in shows such as ''A Bit of Fry and Laurie'' and ''Jeeves and Wooster'' (not to mention the ''Blackadder'' series, all alongside friend and comedy partner Hugh Laurie), and has written several books and documentaries.  He suffers from bipolar disorder and is the current President of the mental health charity ''Mind'', which seeks to publicise mental health issues and to reduce the stigma associated with them.

==Views==
===Religion===
Fry is an atheist, and in an interview titled ''The Importance of Unbelief'' had this to say:

{{quotebox|It’s interesting. Atheism comes into rather a bad press and I suppose I’d rather describe myself as a humanist[.] I don’t believe in God. I don’t believe there is a God. If I were to believe in a god l would believe in gods. I think [[monotheism]] is the really ghastly thing. That is the absolutely staggering to me misapprehension. I can perfectly see why anybody might imagine that each thing, each thing that grows, each phenomenon [that] accompanies us on our journey through life, the sky, the mountains, spirits of nature. I can imagine why man would wish {{wpl|Anthropomorphism|to endow them with an inner something|,}} an inner animus that they would call the god of that thing. I can see that. It’s a beautiful and charming way of looking at it and I can understand the Greek idea that there are these you know these principles of lightning or of war or of wisdom and {{wpl|Personification|to embody them, to personify them}} into an [[Athena]] or {{wpl|Ares}} or whichever god you want makes enormous sense, but to say that there is one only god who made it all and who is… Yeah, that is just… What? Why? Who said? Where? Come on.<ref>[http://bigthink.com/videos/the-importance-of-unbelief ''The Importance of Unbelief'']</ref>}}

He has criticized the [[Roman Catholic Church]] as doing more harm than good, referring to: the crusades, the [[Inquisition]], [[Child sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church|covering up of child abuse]], its claim that condoms do not prevent AIDS, [[Galileo Galilei|executing witnesses that the earth revolves around the sun]], being a century or three late to denouncing the transatlantic [[Slavery|slave trade]], its conspicuous absence from even local Italian politics as they ignored the Holocaust, raping and violating countrysides and even [[South America|an entire continent]], and not giving the rest of the earth any of their treasure back like most museums now do when under pressure to repatriate artifacts.<ref> [http://www.amindatplay.eu/2009/12/02/intelligence%C2%B2-catholic-church-debate-transcript/ Intelligence² Catholic church debate: Transcript]</ref> And on top of that, they did it all while wearing {{wpl|Mitre|even sillier hats}} than pirates: yo ho, yo ho, a papist's life for me. Fetch aft the 
rum
 sacramental wine, Darby.

===Pseudoscience===
He takes a dim view of [[pseudoscience]]s such as [[homeopathy]], [[alternative medicine]], [[ESP]], and [[astrology]], and is a fan of [[James Randi]].<ref name=csicop>[http://www.csicop.org/si/show/stephen_fry--last_chance_to_think/ Stephen Fry--Last Chance to Think]</ref> He once said, "if there’s a word that drives me mad it’s “[[Subtle energy|energy]]” used in a nonsensical way—don’t get me started!"<ref name=csicop/>

===Politics===
Fry is a [[social democracy|social democrat]] and [[liberal]] and has usually tended to vote for the [[Labour Party]], though he's been critical of the [[Third Way]]. He also supported the alternative vote in the 2011 British alternative vote referendum.<ref>http://hollowverse.com/stephen-fry/</ref><ref>[http://www.stephenfry.com/2010/05/09/stalemate-pr-and-pr-ice-cream-bananas-and-fudge/ Stalemate: PR and PR, Ice Cream, Bananas and Fudge], Stephenfry.com.</ref>

He is a critic of political correctness and sided with [[Jordan Peterson]] on the issue, stating that political correctness doesn't work and calling [[Donald Trump]] and [[Brexit]] failures of the left rather than triumphs of the right.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxYimeaoea0</ref>

Fry was knighted in 2025 for "services to mental health awareness, the environment and to charity."<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1ln96d4yyeo 2025 New Year Honours] BBC News, 30 December, 2024</ref>

==External links==
*[https://stephenfry.com Official website]
*[https://mobile.twitter.com/stephenfry?p=s Fry's Twitter page]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-suvkwNYSQo Stephen Fry, waxing eloquently on his religious beliefs]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

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[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Social democrats]]

Categories: Actors, Authors, Atheists, British comedy, British people, Comedians, Film-makers, Jews, LGBTQ people, Liberals, Living people, Social democrats