Dec. 9, 2004 - 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.
Flew said he’s best labeled atheist like Thomas Jefferson, whose God was not actively involved in people’s lives.
“I’m thinking of a God very different from the God of the Christian and far and away from the God of Islam, because both are depicted as omnipotent Oriental despots, cosmic Hussein'susseins,” he said. “It could be a person in the sense of a being that has intelligence and a purpose, I suppose.”
Flew first made his mark with the 1950 article “Theology and Falsification,” based on a paper for the Socratic Club, a weekly Oxford religious forum led by writer and Christian thinker C.S. Lewis.
Over the years, Flew proclaimed the lack of evidence for God while teaching at Oxford, Aberdeen, Keele, and Reading universities in Britain, in visits to numerous U.S. and Canadian campuses and in books, articles, lectures and debates.
The philosopher Anthony Flew took almost his Life to know the truth about GOD, how long will an ordinary Atheist will take time to understand the truth ? A Life or Two?
What proof is there to deny the existence of GOD?
There is no evidence either way.
It is a pointless discussion.
Love and blessings Don
What proof is there to deny the existence of GOD?
Anyone that believes in the supernatural like a God and claims that it is real must shoulder the burden of proving its existence with empirical evidence in the first place. Not the other way round.
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You can't disprove a negative.
I conjecture the existence of the Invisible Pink Unicorn.
Please give evidence that there is no such thing, before you go denying it.
It all comes back to the burden of proof and not proving negatives.
If anything which can not be proved were assumed to be true, lord only knows how the judicial system would work...
okay... 1 person becomes a spiritual deist.
is that all?
One case of an atheist turning into a theist doesn't change universal facts. How about tons of example of atheists who once believed in God all though their lives but later left theism when they understood the lack of evidence supporting the supposed existence of a higher power?
I believe I, who was a theist for 17 years, am not the only example in that department.
And you didn't cite any evidence supporting the supposed existence of God here either.
Logical Error: Burden of Proof is on the Existential Claim.
Logical Error: Absent evidence, non-existence is the default logical claim.
Logical Error: Appeal to Authority.
Logical Error: Confirmation Bias.
You can't prove something that's already proven. The burden of proof is on the theist, as they say.
Yeah, dude, I am still looking for said %26quot;proof%26quot;.
There are no gods and the Christian version of a three-in-one god is simply laughable.
Taoist/Atheist (realist)
Typical theist view, we can't explain it so it must be god.
And I wouldn't hinge my argument on what some philosophy professor says.
Your question is a negative assertion, that is to say, you cannot prove the non-existence of something.
My 81 year old mother thought people were living her attic.Do you get my point.You can not prove things do not exist.Some would say the absence of proof god does exist is proof that he does not.But stick to your guns.I wish I believed.A life after this one.What a wonderful thought.
1. If a perfectly good god exists, then evil does not.
2. There is evil in the world.
3. Therefore, a perfectly good god does not exist.
Theres no proof that god is real, and theres no proof to deny his existance.
Flew isn't a theist, either.
%26quot;Remember this every time some apologist brings up the name of Flew to argue against atheism: this is an example of the depths to which desperate Christians will sink — they will lie and take advantage of the confusion of an old man to get a trophy for their wall. %26quot;
There is no excuse for denying the Lord.
%26quot;The fool says in his heart, %26quot;There is no God.%26quot; They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.%26quot; Psalm 14:1
%26quot;Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist--he denies the Father and the Son.%26quot; -1 John 2:22
Leprechauns created the universe
That's why all the plants are green
You should just accept it and forget all this God/Jesus nonsense.
Arguments from authority are a FALLACY.
Just because some old codgers get scared in their final days does not prove there is a god.
http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies…
The onus is on Christians et al,to prove the existence of %26quot;God%26quot;.
In the same way,the prosecution in a court of law must prove guilt.
Simply quoting one man,who changed his mind,does not make every Atheist wrong.
Well done idiot. You've claimed that because one atheist changed his religion when he reached 81 (and, it must be noted, a few years after he was diagnosed with DEMENTIA), that somehow means that God must be real.
Your stupidity is so vast it doesn't amuse me; it actually OFFENDS me as another human being.
There is no proof either way - faith is the only thing we have to base an opinion of this nature on. I find it interesting however that at such a feeble age this man wants to recant his life's work and go with %26quot;The Big Guy%26quot;.
ok...if every christian, jew, muslim, or any other religious group that believed in a god, stopped and prayed all together that god would stop and cure all those sickened by lets just say cancer, would that happen? what did jesus say about prayer?......or if everyone who said they would sell their soul to the devil if they would hit the lottery or hit the big money in a casino, wouldn't there be a lot more people with money?......that is just part of my proof and there is a lot more.....
Appeal to authority fallacy. What Flew or anyone else believes is irrelevant -- what matters is evidence. And there is none to show your god (or anyone else's) is real.
That alone, the complete lack of evidence to show there IS a god, is ample basis for ignoring those who make claims about gods existing. It's quite easy, however, to go further with specific gods.
For example, your christian god claims, in Matt. 17:20, that with just a tiny bit of faith you can command a mountain to move, and it will move...and nothing will be impossible for you. So go ahead, go command a mountain to move -- does it? Nope. Nobody's ever been able to pull off that trick. Try something that's impossible to everybody else, like levitating yourself 10 feet off the ground with no mechanical aid...can you do it? Nope. Things that are impossible to everybody else are also impossible to you. All such tests -- every single one -- from the bible fail, every single time. That only leaves two conclusions:
1. the christian god/jesus lies, and doesn't keep promises -- so is no god.
2. the christian god/jesus can't keep promises because they don't exist
Which is it?
Until Flew (or anybody else) has *evidence* that a %26quot;super-intelligence%26quot; exists, there's no reason to believe one does -- he's stating an argument from ignorance. Same goes for your god.
Peace.
There is exactly the same amount of proof denying gods existence, as there is proving his existence!! I think most atheists do not deny the existence or possibility of some %26quot;force%26quot; or creator of existence in the universe. They just deny the existence of the christian, muslim, hindi, buddhist ideas of god, because they are all manmade interpretations of what god is and what god wants. So, its not really the denial that a god may exist, but rather, that he has not revealed himself to us and doesnt care to be worshipped!
The flowers are beautiful and smells good for the bees to find them easily. And there are too many spots on the leopar to make us to differ him from the lion.
