Antony Flew, God and the Evidence: A review of There Is a God

On December 9, 2004, an Associated Press story story went out on the wires, "Famous Atheist Now Believes in God: One of World's Leading Atheists Now Believes in God, More or Less, Based on Scientific Evidence."

More? Or less? As it turns out, neither. He believes in God simply on the scientific evidence. Many might consider that thin gruel, but he is entitled to cite the evidence in his defense. And there is a lot of it.

Go here for more:

Introduction: Antony Flew, God, and the Evidence: A review of There IS a God

Part One: Antony Flew sought to make the best case for atheism

There were, of course, many other 20th century atheist thinkers. But Varghese argues that thinkers like Ayer, Sartre, Camus, Heidegger, Rorty, and Derrida differed from Flew in that they offered systems of thought, one of whose byproducts was atheism.

Essentially, they were saying, my system is right - oh, and by the way, there's no God. But that means that you must buy into the system to get the atheism. And if you come to doubt the system, why believe the atheism?

Part Two: Following the argument wherever it leads

Recounting his adventures in philosophy, Flew provides an answer to a question that had long puzzled me: Where did the intelligent design theorists get their slogan, "Follow the evidence wherever it leads!" It seems to have originated in Plato's account of Socrates' command in The Republic, to "Follow the argument wherever it leads." (p. 22) This exhortation formed the basis of the Oxford Socratic Club, of which Christian apologist C.S. Lewis was president (1942-1954) and of which Flew was a member - and a leading exponent of the principle. Somehow (at least by p. 42), this transmutes to "following the evidence wherever it may lead."

Part Three: Rediscovering the God of the Philosophers

Flew, one begins to realize, is an old-fashioned thinker who assumes at the outset the possibility of the moral life as a distinct human quality. He is not seeking to ground it in the squabbles of ancestral primates or the mindless hum of genes - let alone demonstrate that it doesn't exist. In other words, an old-fashioned atheist like Flew thought that you could be moral without God. Many new atheists think that there is no "you" and there is no "moral", never mind that there is no "God."

Part Four: Einstein's God and Antony Flew

While Einstein is often associated with the philosopher Spinoza, for whom God and nature were synonymous, Flew points out that Einstein knew little of Spinoza's work and admitted as much (p. 98). True, he did not believe in a personal God and displayed little interest in organized religion, but he did think that the pursuit of science leads to the recognition of a "superior mind", and "illimitable superior spirit", or "superior reasoning force" (p. 101). And that is certainly enough to remove Einstein from the catalogue of celebrated materialist atheists.

Note: For time management reasons, I have disabled comments for this post. You can make comments at Uncommon Descent, where it is also put up.

Former atheist Antony Flew to author book on God as designer

Antony Flew, who became a deist on account of intelligent design, will apparently be authoring a book with HarperCollins (There Is a God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind, October 23, 2007), his co-author being Roy Varghese
. This from the publisher:

For the first time, this book will present a detailed and fascinating account of Flew's riveting decision to revoke his previous beliefs and argue for the existence of God. Ever since Flew's announcement, there has been great debate among atheists and believers alike about what exactly this "conversion" means. There Is a God will finally put this debate to rest.
This is a story of a brilliant mind and reasoned thinker, and where his lifelong intellectual pursuit eventually led him: belief in God as designer.

Former famous atheist Antony Flew asked for intelligent design to be taught in British schools.

As the ID controversy grows worldwide, I simply don't and can't keep up with everything. One thing I hadn't realized - which a friend mentioned recently - is that one of the 12 prominent academics who asked at the end of last year for intelligednt design to be explored in science classes was Antony Flew:

It has emerged that 12 prominent academics wrote to Tony Blair and Alan Johnson, the education secretary, last month arguing that ID should be taught as part of science on the national curriculum.

They included Antony Flew, formerly professor of philosophy at Reading University; Terry Hamblin, professor of immunohaemotology at Southampton University; and John Walton, professor of chemistry at St Andrews University.

Flew was best known for being converted from atheism to deism (there is at least some kind of God) by intelligent design - after about fifty years of being one of the world's most respected academic atheists. He commented on DNA that

... the investigation of DNA “has shown, by the almost unbelievable complexity of the arrangements which are needed to produce (life), that intelligence must have been involved.

Of course, the British government nixed the idea, but I bet it doesn't die. And people wonder why there is an intelligent design controversy. By the way, to keep up with ID in Britain, go here.