Famous Athiest Changes Mind
The AP reports,
A British philosophy professor who has been a leading champion of atheism for more than a half-century has changed his mind. He now believes in God more or less based on scientific evidence, and says so on a video released Thursday.
At age 81, after decades of insisting belief is a mistake, Antony Flew has concluded that some sort of intelligence or first cause must have created the universe. A super-intelligence is the only good explanation for the origin of life and the complexity of nature, Flew said in a telephone interview from England.
fear of dying
Scientists should just stop talking about God altogether, I think. No matter what kind of “proofs” scientists or philosophers can come up with, they can only ever talk about some abstract first mover or designer, and never about the God of our revelation. So what’s the point?
is he a philosopher ot scientist? this looks like a bunch of crap. You cannot scientifically prove the existence of god, ipso facto.
i tend to agree with the 04:49am post.
Why is it that it’s only publicised when an athiest becomes a theist, but not the other way around… it makes it seem like all these smart people are “seeing the light” but what about when it goes in the other direction.
This isn’t a statement about G-d or the existance of a supreme being, only about the nature of our society and the media’s bias.
TomC’s comment isn’t really fair. This was not “an atheist.” This person was “a leading champion of atheism.” Now, Tom, are you telling me that if a leading Christian theologian or evangelist announced that he was now an atheist, that it wouldn’t make the news? It most certainly would.
He’s getting old and now he feels like he should cover his ass.
It took him 81 years to figure out something that most of us can by the age of 13-14, yeesh and hez a professor
Permission to Believe
Four Rational Approaches to God’s Existence
by Lawrence Kelemen
Interesting concept and I agree with Tom C, not with fineline.
The media bias is pretty evident against a Christian’s freedom of speech and it keeps getting worse. Take the Hate Crimes Laws that they’re trying to pass. In the Netherlands, where they have those laws, Christian pastors are being thrown into jail for preaching the bible. Which, incidentally does include some deviant behaviors that the liberals are trying to legislate into our lives.
If a leading Christian theologian or evangelist announced that he was now an atheist probably wouldn’t make the news. A Christian theologian who is gay would. A catholic priest who has had sex with boys would hit the news.
Yep, talk about hedging your bets….
Still, doesn’t the Ramabam say that mere belief is enough to “set you up with the spirt in the sky” at least on a basic level?
Hello?! The guy says that he does not believe in a personal (read: “currently thinking, active, or conscious”) God, nor does he believe in an afterlife. Now, explain to me… In what religion would that sort of belief be hedging your bets? He even says that this “God” could be a human-type figure. He’s not trying to get into heaven, folks.
Note the age-old definition of news: “Man bites dog.” A prominent atheist believing in God fits the bill. So does a televangelist, who promotes Christian values, getting caught with a prostitute. So would the Pope becoming an atheist. When religious folk (including atheists) do something that is outside our normal expectations, it makes the news. That happened here. No conspiracy.
Are you all aware that mainstream media reporters are considered a pretty secular bunch?
I think the fact that he is calling himself a dieist is interesting. As well as the fact that he compared himself to Thomas Jefferson and the ‘intellegent design’ folks in the US.
As for proof that G-D exists. Well I have always considered the fact that we still exist to be pretty good proof that G-D does. I mean with all the attempts to wipe the Jews from the face of the earth over the past centuries, it would take some kind of devine intervention for us to still exist.
81? Senility’s setting in.
Just kidding. The guy’s version of “God” is clearly a very broad one – not the personal God of Christian or Jewish religion. Nor the horrid God of Christian or Jewish religion either, for that matter.
If you define God as “the universe,” well, hell, I’m no longer an atheist either.
And Tom C was *absolutely* right.
Reading that, and knowing a little about Flew’s philosophy, I was somewhat suspicious, so I went and researched it myself. Flew’s still an atheist and these rumours are nothing but rumours:
http://www.butterfliesandwheels.com/articleprint.php?num=98
I too am an atheist, and I’m pretty satisfied with Flew’s definition of a “negative atheist”.
Thanks by the way for a lot of interesting posts, links and ideas for a left-wing (secular) Jew like me to enjoy!