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From: CannonHillBilly
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  • 'let him who is without sin..." was added to the gospel acording to John in the 13trh century. Sounds like an anachists charter though. It not moral. What did jesus teach that was supposed to be so good.?

  • Never try to argue with Stephen Fry!

  • @timmye00 Obvious troll is obvious. Please return to your hovel.

  • @koopification Are you a shitstabbing poofter also,koop.

  • He looks at a little boy bum and say to his self,how beautiful.

  • @Quark130 First of all, learn some English before you express yourself in writing ... All religion is based on someone's stupid opinion. There is no evidence that our Creator is responsible for any of it. In fact, there's more evidence that He or She is not. By the way, if you're not satisfied with people as they are then take your complaints to Whoever created them. If you can find Him or Her ... Maybe They're hiding.

  • Wow, some people are ignorant! This is only opinion and meant to be taken as that! If you don't like it, don't fucking watch it! Steven fry is great

  • @mattyslate Steven has a big bit of shit on the end of he's dick.

  • @timmye00 You're on the end of his dick???? WOW

  • @timmye00 His, not he's

  • Comment removed

  • @Quark130 What are you exactly saying? This makes no sense.

  • humanism? hmm, did not humans invent all of this terrible religion stuff? presumably as some sort of perverse social control measure? warfare? torture? the pill industry? guns? burning hydrocarbons? hunting for fun? i'm supposed to give up faith in a perfect divinity in favor of worshiping these rotten, self centered, greedy, lust crazy, smelly animals...? not likely...

  • @cwross1976 I appreciate the final point of your message, but doesn't your first line contradict it? Or were you being rhetorical?

    Besides, it's a major part of the creed that man is made in God's image: so if religion is accurate, I'd say that respect for other humans is an equally valid route towards moral behaviour anyway, parallel to deism.

  • @cwross1976 So because Humans invented bad things, everything that humans invented is bad? What kind of rotten logic is that? Even more twisted that the "logic" of those that flew those planes in tho these towers for their faith in a perfect divinity.

  • @cwross1976

    1. Misconstruing the meaning of humanism is as about as clever as saying "baby oil? I don't want to rub oil from babies on me!". Humanism is faith in humans. Humans, incidently, created religion, so there's possibly some good there, considering that Jesus is the only prophet of Christianity that was at all divine.

    2. I like the way you put 'the pill' (going to assume that's contraceptive pills.) parallel with toture. Nice. Actually, a contraceptive pill is not an abortificant.

  • How is this about humanism ? The man couldn't care less about humanism...

    At a time when wars for money and domination are ravaging the World, when individualism is setting people further and farther apart from each other despite the ever increasing need for unity and solidarity, when people are becoming so increasingly disloyal and nasty to each other,

    AND...

    all notion of "sacredness" has died.......

    All the outstandingly shrewd Stephen Fry can ever rant about is... evil / useless Religions.

  • Did anyone else come from "Stephen Fry's beautiful comments..." not realising it was the same clip? :P

  • What a wonderful 4.43 minutes of free flowing intelligent thought. Listening to public intellectuals such as Stephen Fry or Christopher Hitchens is such a joy. That they would share all the reading and thinking they have done with us without requiring anything more than we listen is marvellous.

  • @Tapiola2007 That is what "public intellectuals" are for : they tell you what the truth is, and because you don't think for yourself, like tens of thousands of others, you find it all wonderful and it becomes your own unquestionned faith. Until maybe someone contradicts it in an even cleverer way. But usually there isn't much room for two very opposite, yet very credible ideas on TV : )

  • @mariekitu I don't listen to people like Fry or Hitchens to get the truth and take whatever they say as my own "unquestioned faith". There comes a point when someone else is always more well versed than oneself in a particular field. Stephen Fry has certainly read more literature and philosophy than I so I appreciate hearing his take on those topics. I listen to Richard Dawkins on evolutionary biology because I know he's got the goods on that topic. Perhaps your just smarter than these people...

  • Morality is a religion.

  • i always thought religion was invented to put fear into people and at the same time give thier dreary lives hope that something better was awaiting

  • A gifted speaker, who can be very serious and amazingly humorous, and paint a brilliant mental picture by his choice and style of words.

  • Morals existed for thousands of years before religion ! If organized religion never existed, there still would be human morals. Religion canonized morals and then acted like they invented morality, witch is a total lie. It's a good control tactic though. If you want to control, manipulate and dominate people, acting like you invented their natural instincts to be good. Then constantly shame them. It's a big joke.

  • @flubno

    Gal. 5:22-23

    But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control: AGAINST SUCH THERE IS NO LAW.

    What Paul does here is list characteristics universally recognized as good, and then ruins it by saying that humans are naturally corrupt and we need god's spirit give us those attributes.

  • its a clever spin on the old atheist adage of, "if there is a god its me", to which the mystics replied, "yes exactly, we are all gods in embryo waiting to be born", he is trying to rewrite chief ideals of spirituality as originating from modern secularism. What he leaves out of those myths is the moral of, if you are going to act as the gods, be prepared for the responsibility. which I see as the key issue.

  • @AfterFauve001 4:24 "We take the credit for what is brave about Man and we take blame for what is dreadful about Man." No clever spin there. Just plain truth.

  • @TomFynn especially when the plain truth is conveniently twisted to fit his own perspective. & yet the claim that evangelical atheism is not a religion, because it is the obvious default position, exists.

    I wish I had such faith.

  • @AfterFauve001 No twisting. No faith. But I agree: I wish you had *his* faith.

  • @AfterFauve001 No twisting. But I agree: I wish you had *his* faith. Especially since it's not a faith.

  • @TomFynn It must be nice to have such absolute certainty, I wonder what the bases of that is.

  • @AfterFauve001 That would be Stephen Fry.

  • Morality does not exclusively belong to the religious. When the religious will recognize that, life on earth will get better. At the present, the various religions still play "my imaginary friend is better than yours", which causes so much hate.

  • Humanism is where one ends up by default -it's not a choice.

  • Very well said

  • Lets face it the comparison of "God(s)" to Santa Claus, FSM, Russells teapot, etc. only works as a parallel to the anthropomorphic deities of religions. A non-interventionist deistic god is not parallel to fairies. The universe of a deist is indistinguishable from the universe of an atheist. No miracles, No revelation, just natural laws to govern the cosmos.

  • @Keysteeze Well you are right about the "non-interventionist deistic god" being indistinguishable from the universe of an atheist, but I challange you to show me just a single person who believes in such a god. Throughout my life, I have met none.

  • @DancingInChains You may not have met any but many of the American founding fathers were deists. It was more common in those days I suppose.

    Free-thinker myself. I find the notion of any god to be highly improbable.

  • @DancingInChains So, of the countless people you have met from many diverse walks of life, all of whom candidly divulging to you their heart-felt religious thoughts and considerations without fear of being "challenged", no-one has expressed the belief that it might be possible for an all-knowing and all-powerful Being to create a universe and then leave it to unfold in precisely the manner foreseen by said Being without the need for acts-of-god/temper-tantrums/ri­tual-sacrifices/crusades/etc?

  • @DancingInChains - my best friend Steve is a deist. I hate to tell you this, but religion is far more complex than obviously you understand it to be. Not every question has two possible answers, especially not this one.

  • @PeteLinUni Who, Stephen Fry? Haha. You have GOT to be kidding,

  • @PeteLinUni

    Everything in that sentence is false.

  • @PeteLinUni He's speaking on general topics regarding humans, not himself. Isn't disregarding what he has to say without properly listening, or even trying to understand, a defining point of being "self-righteous"?

  • Please watch 'Its up to us' humanism. Its only had a few viewings because Peter Blake, who speaks in it is not world famous, but its quite interesting and clear, Mary Fletcher.[who made the video]

  • 3.59 hitchens gets a big fucking kick hehehe

  • @stitcha123 how's that?

  • @PrinceOfSpane lol he enjoys fry describing the new priests s people with ginger whiskers and tinted spectacles. lol, tis pretty funny.

  • "We have to grow up"...

  • Sounds a bit like Dr. Jonathan Miller.

  • How beautifully put.

  • Stephen Fry is a Legend. Religion is selfish, the whole point seems to be to buy your way into heaven, From reading and watching videos of carl sagan, it seems pretty clear that Humanism or something along those lines is about the preservation and continuation of life on our planet and all that this encompasses, freedom, peace etc. Our planet is the only one we know about that has life, no one from the outside will save us from ourselves. Leave the world a beter palce than wen u enterd it.

  • I love listening to Steven speak... it's like taking your mind to the opera

  • @Tazer05 Don't you mean the public toilets.

  • Fry sounds somewhat like a Gnostic when he speaks about Prometheus. I have much respect for him. More people should think about the underlying divisiveness of modern christianity and islam. I wholeheartedly agree with how religion insinuates that they have a monopoly on the spiritual, the altruistic, and the moral.

  • Whatever you wish to say as to the religious debate, Stephen Fry certainly has a marvellous turn of phrase.

  • @Arkantum One needn't be secular or atheist or agnostic to be humanist.

  • I hate humanism, but the agency and accountability present in this description appeal greatly to me.

  • @Clitorisaurus I don´t understand how can anyone hate humanism?? We wouldn´t be here without it, no? You are right, it wouldn´t be such a pitty...

  • @Clitorisaurus

    Hate humanism? How could one hate something that embraces the well being of others? One of the TRUE aspects of Christianity that Jesus taught was the love and acceptance of others. To share what you have and be compassionate.

    Shame that the majority of followers forget this, especially when it comes to different ideologies, race and sexual preference.

  • @refuckulate420

    Because I don't value the well-being of others.

    I love and/or accept few. Compassion is an eternal weakness.

    Your assumption that I'm a christian is wrong. I just happen not to be a humanist.

  • @Clitorisaurus

    Might as well go kill yourself then. You are pretty much worthless to society :).

  • @refuckulate420

    Nah, just to pathetic codependents and empaths. I find I'm more productive and thus worth more to society this way than I would be otherwise.

  • @Clitorisaurus

    I highly doubt that

  • @refuckulate420

    Whatever makes you feel better, dude.

    Have fun at your Unitarian church.

  • @Clitorisaurus

    Church? What are you talking about. Man you are dense, that much is clear.

    Has nothing to do with feeling better, I feel great. I just see no place in human civilization for people like you and find that your type detracts from our growth and betterment.

  • @refuckulate420

    And you struggle to understand derisive insinuation. You might be autistic. There are test you can take to find out; I'd recommend one.

    Well, then you of course see incorrectly. But like I said, whatever makes you feel better.

  • @Clitorisaurus

    Lol you are just talking out your ass now. Stupid troll.

  • @refuckulate420

    I don't think you know what "trolling" means.

    Way to evade productive discussion, though, A++.

  • @Clitorisaurus

    Productive discussion? Haha..haha..you aren't capable of such things troll.

  • @refuckulate420

    You're incredibly evasive and possibly projecting.

    If you ever decide you're a big enough boy to have an actual argument, hit me up, dawg. Until then, enjoy your fallacious reasoning.

  • @Clitorisaurus

    Troll fail.

  • @Clitorisaurus Wow, compassion is an eternal weakness. I truly hope you ARE trolling. I think compassion is an instinctual reflex, much along the lines of the impulse of creation of life, the impulse to COMBINE and grow and become more advanced.

  • @JerFhilm

    So? Instinct and weakness are not mutually exclusive. It's not always best to follow our evolutionary imperative. Ever learn about naturalistic fallacy? To say otherwise is that.

    I mean, shit, don't you think we've propagated the species enough? You think we as a species should take a page from Africa's book?

    Humans have developed rationality. It's no longer necessary that we act as beasts of instinct. As humans, we can do better.

  • @wyatt9600 Lol, that is a dumb thing to say.

  • @wyatt9600 What do you believe in? Purely out of curiosity?

  • @wyatt9600 It seems as though your prophet has not brought you very much peace. Humanity is basically good, even though humanity doesn't like you back.

  • Actually Jesus didn't say "let him who is without sin cast the fist stone", as far as we know. That story (with Jesus saving and forgiving the magdalene) was invented by a later scribe.

  • @smithbrain no brain

  • @smithbrain What an ignorant comment!

    Your imaginary "god" DOES NOT always protect you. What is so special about you that you think that you imaginary friend protects you and yet millions of people live and in disease and poverty.

    Who protects atheists??? What does that even mean? The answer could be their friends and family maybe - the police? Laws about health and social services? What a stupid question. Do you even know what "atheism" even means?

  • @smithbrain Oh, and you DO NOT get your morals from "god". That is absolutely ridiculous and, dare I say it, pretty offensive.

    Us humans and many other animals are "moral" without the need to invent gods, thanks.

    Do you think that people were running about doing only "immoral" things until they invented the idea of gods? No, that altruistic behaviour is due to evolution. You might want to look it up! You might learn something.

  • @smithbrain

    And do you extend this idea to people who don't believe in exactly the same religion as you? Do you think that you god "protects" them, or are muslims, buddhists, hindus, sikhs also excluded from your exclusive club?

    i.e., your particular god made everybody, but only "protects" you and your mates who share the same exact brand of religion?

    If you believe in this ignorant nonsense, you have to invent a whole web of excuses to try to sound coherent. You fail miserably, by the way.

  • Dope.

  • humanism is still a neoliberal construct that attributes rights and agency to some at the expense of others...we've still got moral ground to cover...

  • Stephen Fry is articulate, brilliant. He and Christopher Hitchens are treasures for those who appreciate deep thinkers. "True wit is nature to advantage dressed. What oft was thought but ne'er so well expressed,"

    Diana

    Atlanta

  • Nice speech, Mr. Fry, but what you are describing is transhumanism, not humanism. It is transhumanism that burns with Promethean fire, and states that we can & should overcome our biological limitations, including death itself, by means of science & technology and 'become as gods'. Humanism, otoh, is all about 'acceptance' (defeatism disguised as realism), moderation & (overcomplicated) morality. It's a tired old philosophy that's holding back socio-technological progress, not stimulating it.

  • There is no outer space. The universe is infinitely large and small. there is no end on both levels. you can maginfy an atom as many times as you want there will always be something more to discover. and you can travel through space for eternity there will always be something else out there. nothing is impossible and if you beleive it, it will only take time to prove it true. the most ludicrous ideas are proven true. human history is a blink in this fractal reality we live in. order out of chaos

  • No amount of philosophy will change the fact that humans are self-obsessed little specks in the grand scheme of things. Humanists think: "I'm extremely intelligent, much more so than most of my fellow-humans, particularly more so than Wayne and Waynetta; therefore, there is no God."

  • i agree that philosophy wont change that we are self-obsessed little specks, but that doesn't change one thing about the lack of evidence for a god. i dont base my disbelief on the fact that i might possibly be more intelligent than someone, i base it on the evidence, or lack thereof. so apart from attacking humanists in a made up scenario, how about attacking actual situations?

  • @creepyoldman2 Surely to base your whole life on the "fact" that there is no God is a bit of a waste of time, just as to base it on the "fact" that there is a God is also a waste of time. In my opinion. Now: Bhuddism - there's a good system. It has it all - philosophy, respect for all living things (not humanist: we're all in this together, every ant and leaf, we're actually all one.) Bhuddists do not believe in a supreme being.

  • He didn't even say he based his whole life around anything.

    Nice work not attacking made up scenarios there.

  • @BenjaminBattington Oooh - I would appear to be surrounded by raving humanists!

  • @LordInksworth Buddhism FTW. It is the only religion that I actually respect.

  • If Bhuddism is the only religion you respect, then you are not a Bhuddist. Similarly, man in glass house should not throw stones. Similarly, man in glass house should undress in basement.

  • Or under a sheet, if he couldn't be bothered to go to the basement. Or his friend could come around and ask "Who told you you were naked?" Then they would giggle at the idea of Buddha saying FTW like the lolcows they are.

  • It's elitist. The Humanists are in the leafy suburbs. The god-fearing ones are in the council-estates. If Wayne and Waynetta wandered into a Humanists meeting, pushing little Cheryl in a buggy, chewing gum and announcing, "We wanna be humanists, innit?" I'm pretty sure that not a single Humanist would welcome them. They'd politely, excruciatingly, say "Come in, have a seat. Would you like Earl Grey or Jasmine?" "Naaah, no fanks - I don't wear perfume innit."

  • I think that stems from the different schooling we receive as children. The state schools are ramming God and religion down kid's throats from they're no age. The more money you have, the better the education you receive.

  • What is the problem with actions being self-congratulatory altruistic, if in the end both the objective and consecuence is ideal? When has the motive ever mattered?

  • The basic problem is one of egocentric greed. I, me, mine. It's also based on intellect, ability to logically disprove God. And it's for the upper-middle classes. What poor families do you know that are Humanist? It's elitist, intellectual masturbation. It bores me silly. If you don't believe in God, fine. But why base an -ism on it? Just BE what you are and don't JOIN.

  • This is where I disagree with you. Philosophy is a gateway to the unknown and unknowable. IT frees the mind from societies constraints, and should be viewed as a positive thing.

    This is NOT a political matter.

  • okay, so atheism is a group, because they are discriminated against. and if you are going to change anything, you need solidarity, especially in democracies. additionally, labeling oneself as an atheist can help in finding those of similar beliefs, those easier to relate to. btw, whats wrong with bettering our existence. its sounds to me like all you are saying is that intellectuals are pretentious. thats not exactly a point, and might be considered ad hominem.

  • @creepyoldman2 don't call me a hominem - I have a girlfriend, you know.

  • I live around the poverty line...and I'm a humanist. most of my poor friends are humanists as well.

    but I'm an American too...so...there you go. different cultures--different norms I suppose.

  • @Jessymandias I just don't get the name: Humanist. It's too....egocentric. Maybe I'd like them more if they changed thename to "Naturist." (hmmm, maybe not). What about "Naturalist? (no, that doesn't work either... "Animalist"? nope, sounds suspect. I dunno - maybe Natural Realist? I'm a Natural Realist - there you go. I'm a Darwinian Natural Realist. [I'm kind of kidding - i don't dislike humanists. I just think it may discount the possibility of aliens from outer space.

  • I think the American norm you just described can be seen in it's most concrete by observing just how rude church goers are too waitresses and cooks when they crowd into restaurants on Sundays after church. American theism is definitely a club for materialistic interests and business pursuits.

  • oh goodness gracious, I used to work in a restaurant. The Sunday post-church crowd was allways the worst.

    It seemed like people got out of their churches primed and ready to hate the world and their fellow man.

  • @Jessymandias just out of curiosity what did they do when they got out of church that lead you to this conclusion?,,,could it have been the nature of their church that was the problem? for instance a group of mormons, are going to behave differently then a group of jehova witnesses, a group of pentacostals will be different then regular baptists etc.

  • @Jessymandias Having worked in a book store for ten years, I always found it amusing that Sunday afternoon brought in all the men in suits to buy their pornography. 

  • of course, the great Irony is that that the United States is a country that was undeniably founded by atheists, and yet refuses to give up its strong religious idiotologies.

  • The first bourgeois in America were puritans according to history. I think that's why the level of religiosity has always intensified with the level of wealth. That's why I think that America will only get more theocratic as long as we have a middle class. The enlightenment crowd who started the colonial war did so with the help of less than 10% of the population...who just happened to be the poorest with the least to lose politically and socially.

  • If they didn't want us scum to join up they wouldn't have concessions.

  • What a great commentary! Well done, Steven!

  • You lot are like kids fighting in the playground

  • aye, a shame some people resort to idiocy in absence of coherent and intelligent debate.

  • @ExtremeBogom

    Except the Christians still believe in a Grand daddy Santa Claus....

  • @ScienceIsKnowledge

    I still believe in Santa Claus.  Don't laugh ;p

    Atleast someone is eating the cookies I leave out...

  • @ExtremeBogom

    Yeah, i am guessing it is a crack head thats stealing the food :P

  • @ScienceIsKnowledge i go house to house eating cookies. do you believe in the cookie monster?

  • @mikeischangingplaces

    I do now....:P

  • @ScienceIsKnowledge Sorry to butt in like this. But (regarding christians believe in a grand daddy santa claus), What the hell?

  • @LaSeuleEtoile

    Santa - decides who gets Christmas gifts or not, depending on ones behavior.

    God - decides who goes to hell or not, depending on ones behavior.

    God is the "Santa Myth" for adults.

  • Nah, humanism is used by neoliberals as a tool for increased globalization.

    The BNP are non-factors in the larger scheme of things, reactionaries without any real power since only proles will support them.

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  • Do 'proles' have degrees in mathematics and Phd's in metrology?

    Are they sugeons and police officers, nurses and teachers?

    I suggest you take your head from out of that smelly, dark region of your anatomy and face reality sometime.

  • Aww QQ, are you upset that your little cabal of ugly reactionaries are non-factors? That's just too bad.

    Your entire system of economics relies on globalization, and if you think that will ever change because of a political movement(that's not even popular, lol) you should just go ahead and shoot yourself right now.

  • I think it is you who is upset that your inbred race has seen the writing on the wall and you will have to go home......what a trauma it must be for you to go back to the primitivism whence you sprang.

    The clock is ticking for you son. You've had it your own way for far too long. tick tock tick tock tick tock.

  • Lol, islandmonkeys calling anything inbred is beyond hilarious. You're an asylum of Habsburgian caricatures.

    The only thing more revolting than your malformed, pasty faces is your dental care - or complete lack there of.

    Chip chip cheerio mate, care for a tea?

  • You seem to mistake globalized trading with giving up my country to a bunch of fanatical wogs. Well, you must declare yourself as either a wog yourself or some kind of traitor to your own people.

    So, heresywar (interesting name) which are you....wog or traitor?

  • This brief summation of humanity and its relation to religion is the embodiment of eloquence. Well said Stephen Fry.

  • Religion. With or without, good people would do good things, and evil people would do evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.

  • steven weinberg <3

  • How do you judge good?

  • @SkullVodka Stephen Weinberg. Next time you quote somebody, at least give him the credit for making you sound smart.

  • @SkullVodka so you genuinly believe people are divided into 'good' or 'evil'?

  • @SkullVodka Steven Weinberg, right?

  • @stoprainingonme I'm not sure, and I doubt my quote is exactly the same, but it's a good one for sure.

  • @SkullVodka No. It takes evil people to use religion in evil ways.

  • @SmokiSounds I'm not sure about that myself. I believe anyone basing themselves on a foundation of, "Do it this way or suffer eternally" is ultimately building off of a flawed system. You can have all the good intentions of the world but if you truly believe that yours is the ONLY way up the mountain you obviously and deliberately neglected the other paths.

  • @JerFhilm But see, neglecting other paths and choosing one is the goal and point of it. Which doesn't make you evil or wrong. As I've said, it takes evil people to do evil things regardless of religion.

  • @SkullVodka It sounds nice but if your definition of Evil is immoral acts then its not true.

  • @Martial024 Immoral acts? What, like cursing and sex before marriage? What about eating meat on Fridays?  No, by evil. I mean evil.

  • ...Or, alternatively, what an incredibly wise thing to do.

    How arrogant would you have to be to say "I have an opinion which I happen to share with many great thinkers over the centuries, but MY expression of those beliefs is the the ultimate. I represent the pinnacle of the argument, and my words are therefore the most weighty, the most worthy, the most wonderful, on this topic."

    It's nothing to do with religiosity - or, if it is, it's one of the GOOD bits of religiosity!

  • Isn't it funny that we condemn humans who deviate from the normal behavior..for instance..if you saw one of your friends throwing his shit in the street and fucking his dog..you would think he's absolutely mad..but is it really?..chimpanzees,bonobos..­share the same actions.they have inter-species intercourse..and we don't judge them by morals do we? because we belong in the Animal Kingdom..we are"animals"..so why condemn them..it's more like the wisdom of repugnance...hmm we are complex huh?

  • *applauds*

  • Stephen Fry is descended from Quakers and his comments about the divine fire being in man (from the Greek myth) and that we contain divine fire within us are very Quakerly ideas....

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  • I think you're rather missing the point. He's not talking about you or himself, he's talking about society at large. And it's undeniable that since we've started moving away from religion there has been a massive increase in cults like Scientology or new-age'ism, superstitions like Raiki or astrology.

    Many people aren't capable, either intellectually or emotionally, of dealing with life on a purely rational basis, and that's the problem Stephen is referring to here.

  • Just as an interesting side note. We've had camps for non-religious children since 1989 and currently have about 70 each summer. These camps are named after the titan Prometheus about whom Fry so beautifully speaks as being the one who stole the divine fire and gave it to man.