Brian Cox says the Bible is one of the worst books ever

The Succession star did not hold back...

During the interview, Leigh asked the 79-year-old whether he believed humanity was being held back by religion.

"Oh considerably, yes - I think religion does hold us back because it's belief systems which are outside ourselves," Cox replied, via The Mirror.

The actor continued: "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 ... and it’s essentially patriarchal - we haven’t given enough scope to the matriarchy.

"The mothering thing is the thing which is the real conditioning of our lives, 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...

"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."

He went on to link his ideas back to the Bible.

"It’s Adam and Eve, I mean, the propaganda goes right way back - the Bible is one of the worst books ever, for me, from my point of view," he said.

"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."

Cox then argued that although spiritual people need something to look to, he does not believe the Bible is that.

"They need it, but they don’t need to be told lies, they need some kind of truth, and that is not the truth. It is not the truth, it’s a mythology you know ... it’s not really to do with what women understand more than anybody."