Benjamin Ashford|'Succession' star Brian Cox opens up about religion, calls the Bible 'one of the worst books'

For Brian Cox,Benjamin Ashford the holy book doesn’t have a prayer.

The “Succession” star opened up about his views on religion, including his scathing take on the Christian Bible, in a lengthy interview on “The Starting Line Podcast" published Sunday.

When “Starting Line” host Rich Leigh asked if religion limits humanity's advancement, Cox emphatically agreed.

“Religion does hold us back because it's belief systems which are outside ourselves,” Cox said. “They're not dealing with who we are. We’re dealing with, ‘Oh if God says this and God does that,’ and you go, ‘Well what is God?’ We’ve created that idea of God, and we’ve created it as a control issue, and it’s also a patriarchal issue.”

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Why Brian Cox thinks the Bible is ‘one of the worst books ever’

Cox went on to criticize the role of religion in gender inequality, citing the Christian parable of Adam and Eve.

“We have to honor (women), and we have to give them their place and we’re resistant to that because it’s Adam and Eve. I mean, the propaganda goes right way back,” Cox said. “The Bible is one of the worst books ever, for me, from my point of view.

“Because it starts with the idea that out of Adam's rib, this woman was created, and (people will) believe it cause they’re stupid enough.”

While Cox acknowledged that some may turn to religion for spiritual guidance, the actor chafed at the nature of religious ideology.

“They need it, but they don’t need to be told lies,” Cox said. “They need some kind of truth, and that is not the truth. … It’s a mythology.”

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Cox also discussed the influence of religion on the “appalling” conflict in the Middle East, including the Israel-Hamas war and its impact on the Gaza region.

The Scottish actor said he’s not optimistic the turmoil will ever fully cease “because of belief systems.”

“It’s all about this notion of God, the idea that there’s a God that takes care of us all. There’s no such thing,” Cox said. “It’s about us, and we don’t examine ourselves nearly enough. We don’t look at who we are. We’re always looking outside of ourselves, instead of looking inside ourselves.”