Stephen Fry - Church Quotes

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Do you know who would be the last person ever to be accepted as a Prince of the Church? The Galilean carpenter. That Jew. They would kick him out before he tried to cross the threshold. He would be so ill-at-ease in the Church. That simple and remarkable man, if he said the things that he was said to have said. What would he think... what would he think of St. Peter's? What would he think of the wealth, and the power, and the self-justification, and the wheedling apologies? (Applause) What would he think of a man who calls himself the Father, a celibate, who dares to lecture people on what family values are? What would he think of any of that? He would be horrified.

Stephen Fry
Anyone ordained here will know they are, er, they have this extraordinary power to change the molecules of wine into blood, literally to change the molecules of paste bread into flesh, literally and to forgive the sins of the peasants and the poor whom they routinely exploit around the planet. Only this church has this extraordinary principle that it is through these male priests. And only male priests. That this is given. It is a doctrinal fact. It is more than a doctrinal fact, it is a dogma.

Stephen Fry
It's the strangest thing about this Church- it is obsessed with sex, absolutely obsessed. Now, they will say we, with our permissive society and our rude jokes, are obsessed. No, we have a healthy attitude, we like it, it's fun, it's jolly; because it's a primary impulse it can be dangerous and dark and difficult. It's a bit like food in that respect only even more exciting. The only people who are obsessed with food are anorexics and the morbidly obese, and that in erotic terms is the Catholic Church in a nutshell.

Stephen Fry
Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus. "Outside the church, there is no salvation." That is a dogma that has been used to excuse all the missionary zeal. All the rape and torture of the Aztecs and the Incas. All the horrors of South America and Africa and The Phillipines. And the rest of the world. To which other churches and other cultures have also their guilt to admit. It's not unique to the Catholic Church and I never said it was.

Stephen Fry
The church has no power over our lives any more, which is something of a blessing for those who do not enjoy red-hot pokers or iron thumb-screws...

Stephen Fry