Brian Cox, the star of Succession, didn’t hold back when giving his thoughts on the Bible, calling it one of the “worst books ever”.
Appearing on the latest episode of The Starting Line Podcast, the 77-year-old actor engaged in a wide-ranging conversation with host Rich Leigh, touching on topics ranging from wealth distribution to religion and politics.
Sounds pretty intense.
But it was his comments on religion, and specifically the Bible, that rubbed some fans up the wrong way.
When asked by Leigh if religion holds humanity back, Cox didn’t mince his words. “Oh considerably, yes – I think religion does hold us back because it’s belief systems which are outside ourselves,” he remarked.
“They’re not dealing with who we are; we’re dealing with, ‘Oh if God says this and God does that…’”
Cox further delved into the issue, highlighting the biological differences between mothers and fathers. “The mothering thing is the real conditioning of our lives,” he emphasized, noting the lack of comparable conditioning by fathers.
“Our fathers don’t condition ourselves because they’re too bloody selfish, but our mothers have to, because they have an umbilical – that’s what the umbilical cord is about …” he said.
Cox continued: “Even though it’s cut away, there’s an umbilical relationship to your child, and the women have that, men do not have that, they’re just sperm banks.
“It’s Adam and Eve I mean the propaganda goes right way back,” Cox continued. “The Bible is one of the worst books ever, for me, from my point of view.”
“Because it starts with the idea that Adam’s rib – you know that [from] Adam’s rib, this woman was created, and they’ll believe it cause they’re stupid enough.”
While acknowledging the need for spiritual guidance, Cox asserted that the Bible falls short of providing truth. “They need it, but they don’t need to be told lies,” he remarked.
Addressing the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, Cox expressed dismay at the escalating death toll, particularly among innocent children. “It’s unbelievable that we do this… people are so stupid,” he said.
“You know, it’s – human beings are so f***ed basically; basically, they’re f***ed and they have been and they’re not doing anything about it and they continue to be f***ed, because they’re so stupid, really that’s the thing about humanity, it’s so deeply, deeply stupid.”
Discussing the possible outcomes of the conflict, the actor continued: “You know they’ll sort it out, but it’s never going to go away because of belief systems – belief systems, which don’t serve equanimity.”
“It’s all about this notion of God, that the idea that there’s a God that takes care of us all – there’s no such thing, doesn’t happen, that’s not what it’s about.”
In reflecting on the root causes of societal issues, Cox emphasized the importance of self-reflection. “It’s about us and we don’t examine ourselves nearly enough,” he concluded.
His comments left viewers divided, as one wrote: “He’s not an expert in religion, society, or science, he’s giving his opinion, and why is his opinion more valid than anyone else’s? Because he’s an actor? And if he would have done his research he would have known that Sikhism for example, is a matriarchal religion. In Sikhism, not only have women been given equal status to men since the beginning, but in fact, they are considered higher than men in almost every respect. People like this make blanket attacks on religion and God based on their narrow point of view, and then all of the people online looking to validate their already existing biases come out in full support, and round and round we go.”
Others added: “An untrained actor giving his uneducated opinion on religion and the Bible. I’m sure he has a valuable contribution to make to the thousands of years of theological studies. Just kidding, I know that he doesn’t.”
One simply commented: “Wonder if he has actually read it?”
Some agreed with the actor, adding: “It’s all mythology anyway,” and: “He’s isn’t lying. They altered that book so bad. People have no idea what they are reading and living behind.”
One joked: “In terms of entertainment and readability it’s bad. I’d rather read Jane eyre and that was horrible.”
