Imagine if one of the world's leading Christians--say C.S. Lewis a generation ago, or Billy Graham now--were to reject his religious beliefs and become a atheist. It would be big news! The New York Times would be all over it, for sure, and the question would be why a man who has devoted his life to God would now turn against Him? In sum, the focus would be on what were the reasons for the conversion and on what's so bad about Christianity.
Contrast this with the New York Times' approach to the conversion of philosopher Anthony Flew. Flew has been, for the past half-century, the world's leading advocate of atheism. No one has so relentlessly espoused the atheist cause, and no one has been more anthologized and eulogized by the atheist community. Other twentieth-century philosophers, such as Martin Heidegger and Bertrand Russell, were unbelievers but they did not make atheism central to their philosophical work as did Flew. Flew's atheism long precedes that of latecomers like Dawkins, Harris and Hitchens.
Now, in his early eighties, Flew has rejected atheism and said he believes that God exists. He does not espouse the Christian God, but calls himself a Deist. He says he has a lifelong commitment to following the evidence where it leads, and that new advances in the sciences have shown him that materialism and Darwinism simply cannot account for the world as it is and life as it is. Examining the fine-tuning of the universe and the mind-boggling complexity of the cell (a compexity that evolution presumes but cannot explain), Flew now believes that the design of the universe requires a designer. He gives his reasons in a new book There Is a God which is co-authored with Roy Abraham Varghese.
When something like this happens, the New York TImes goes into mafia-style intellectual hit mode. They selected Mark Oppenheimer of Yale, who visited Flew in England and wrote a long piece in the November 4, 2007 New York Times Magazine suggesting that Flew converted because he is, well, senile. The basic idea is that Flew has lost his mind and can't remember anything, and when Christian apologists like Varghese were nice to him Flew basically surrendered to them and let them write his book.
The only evidence that Flew has lost his mind is that he's 84 years old. A man of 84 naturally loses some of his memory, especially for names, but this does not mean he has lost his marbles. Flew's own writings of the past few years are all entirely coherent and employ sophisticated philosophical vocabulary. While Flew seems to have asked his collaborator Varghese to write a draft of his life story, it was Flew who reviewed and approved the final contents. There is nothing in the Times' article that shows Flew to be incapable of a reasoned change of mind and heart.
I realize that atheists--including those at the New York Times--are embarassed at having to surrender one of their most stalwart champions to theism. Maybe they too should consider following the evidence where it leads? Too closed-minded to consider Flew's arguments, these fellows would much rather belittle the intellectual capacity of the man they once revered. Hell hath no fury like an atheist scorned.
Reader Comments ( Page 5 of 84)
61. Dena,
You write:
"Rick, if you have a child and that child grows up to be a murderer, a nasty punk of a human being, would you be responsible for your child's actions? Why should God have to ALWAYS INTERVENE when things don't go our way?"
If my child grows up to be either of those, I would be a failure of a father. I would not be physically responsible for his actions, but I would feel responsible that he or she turned out that way. I will do my best to intervene before any of that happens.
With this, I say that if god does exist, then he is a failure as a father.
John Mayoral at 11:52AM on Nov 16th 2007
62. Rita, god has many different forms in many different cultures. In early cultures, the sun, moon, stars, oceans, plains, mountains and other natural formations were seen as gods. Then came zeus, apollo, jupiter, mars, hermes, cupid, athena, odin, and many more like them. Then there are the many gods still worshipped in our cultures today. Deists on the other hand do not worship their god, nor do they ask him for forgiveness of past transgressions. Deists believe god created this universe, and moved on, never to be seen or heard from again. It's much closer to agnosticism than it is to that silly christian concept.
John Mayoral at 11:52AM on Nov 16th 2007
63. Mokele,
Sorry, chicken were created as GOD did the creating so the chicken could lay the egg, not the other way around.
Fabio,
When Christ returns the dead in Christ shall rise with a brand new body. Where are those old bodies right now (DUST). Get you info right before opening mouth inserting foot. Rita
Rita at 11:52AM on Nov 16th 2007
64. 45. Rita,
You refer to the Trinity, a Catholic concept, not a deist concept, or even a Protestant concept.
Mokele Mbembe at 10:54AM on Nov 16th 2007
Mokele, I am protestant and I believe in the Trinity and it is not a Catholic concept, but a Christian one. A protestant is: a member of any of several church denominations denying the universal authority of the Pope and affirming the Reformation principles of justification by faith alone, the priesthood of all believers, and the primacy of the Bible as the only source of revealed truth ; broadly : a Christian not of a Catholic or Eastern church.
think someone in an earlier post (last week, or sometime) showed that you are wrong about humans being made up of the same stuff as dirt. A little education goes a long way. Which brings up another point -- according to evolution, humans sprang from other animals, according to the Bible and you, we're just dirt. Personally, I think it's more noble to be cousins to monkeys than to dirt.
Aaron at 11:08AM on Nov 16th 2007
Aaron, a lot of people have said people are not made from the doit but from animals. According to Genesis 2:7; And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.
Ok, man is already formed here. But if you look at verse 19: And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them; and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
The fact is, what you consider noble or not, matters not. You weren't the Creator. God was.
Furthermore, I forget the person's name, but this person created Islam in Saudi Arabia. An ideal. The only God who has made Himself known in any writings and have any claim to Creation, is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob of the Holy Bible. Where are the words and claims of the other 'gods?' Where are the promises of eternal life from these 'other gods?' None. Because there is only one God and He has made Himself known. You just refuse to accept it. And that does not preclude His existence, but it does prove a point that satan is the author of confusion and is a deceitful lier.
dena at 11:53AM on Nov 16th 2007
65. Wow, this subject is so important to us all, because we are as dust in the wind. If you have ever watched someone die, it is plain that the spirit leaves the body. soooo where does it go? We are all in the same boat, we all know that we will die, and most of us believe our spirits will go somewhere, but what determines where? That is why all the religons,- we need hope, So if we believe that the age long scriptures give us hope and that the Prophets spoke of the future coming of Jesus, came from God, as a man to be a ultimate sacrifice for us, That gives us that HOPE!
shirley Custer at 11:54AM on Nov 16th 2007
66. I'm not sure WHY Mr. D'Souza keeps up conjuring this image of Anthony Flew, as if it was a staggering piece of evidence to his side. Flew is more like me than D'Souza, a deist who completely rejects the capitulations of the monotheisms, but believes there is a superior sentience at the root of the universe.
D'Souza just released a book called "Whats So Great About Christianity". Well, in case he wasn't aware, Flew doesn't think theres ANYTHING great about Christianity, and the God he believes in has no resemblance to the sad-masochistic, genocidal monster of Biblical mythology.
Furthermore, I have to say having read Flew's new book, some of the arguments he presents are not wholly impressive. He doesn't take the Einsten approach to deism, employing astro-physics as a framework for his arguments. He uses the goofy tenets of biological intellgent design. This is foolishness, and doesn't do much to further the deist cause.
But again, the crux of my point is I can't FATHOM why D'Souza keeps on bringing up Anthony Flew. His new book is an argument for Christianity, NOT an argument for the existence of God. These are two strains of thought that are NOT the same, but are somehow confused all the time.
azandi at 11:57AM on Nov 16th 2007
67. Okay, I think I was inaccurate about the Protestant Trinity, they got it FROM Catholicism, but I don't think it was a big deal in Christianity until Catholicism pushed it.
Mokele Mbembe at 12:03PM on Nov 16th 2007
68. 39. dena, if god wants "unconditional love", maybe he should get a dog - LOL! Humans dont give that!
What would make him deserve it anyway?
ray at 10:36AM on Nov 16th 2007
Ray, we are all born of the flesh, born sinners. and unless we repent of those sins through the blood Jesus shed for our salvation, why should we escape punishment. therefore, by repenting, we are made into new, shedding the old. True Christians live in God's spirit rather than in the flesh. And yes, a true Christian does love God unconditionally as He loves everyone, including you, unconditionally. He has given us instructions on how to live, not just for His glory, but also for our salvation. Read John 3:16.
dena at 12:04PM on Nov 16th 2007
69. John,
How in the world do you people come up with these ideas, according to the BIBLE GOD created the earth,animals, and mankind and saw that it was good. He then made Eve from Adam's Rib. Then it goes on to talk about how GOD and Adam visited, do you have any idea how close GOD is to you. Look inside of your heart, he is right there. Some call it conscience, I refer to it as HOLY SPIRIT knocking to get inside to give you the information to obtain a life that GOD has promised will never die or go away and neither will he. I want to know my GOD, I want to touch him, I want him to dry all the tears that have come for me as I have cried for love one gone on or for people who have such a hard heart. If a thief on the cross can recognize the Lord God who died for you, why is it so hard for you to believe GOD has told you that he will never leave or forsake you. Rita
Rita at 12:04PM on Nov 16th 2007
70. Dinosaurs laid eggs long before they evolved into chickens. Or maybe when God created the world he created fake fossils of dinosaur eggs (to test our faith) before moving on to the challenge of making living things.
Mokele Mbembe at 12:08PM on Nov 16th 2007
71. I don't need to look inside my heart to realize that nobody is there Rita. Many open heart surgeries have been done on many people, and not one doctor has seen a tiny man sitting on a throne in anyone's heart. If I ever happen to see god, I will spit in his face for creating a world where even his own 'followers' are murderous villians. I will gladly be sent to hell for just the chance to do that.
John Mayoral at 12:11PM on Nov 16th 2007
72. The argument that one needs to be "saved" in order to get in to heaven is such B.S. That means if a group of people in a random village never hear of Jesus or the Christian god, they will go to hell, even if they never did a bad thing in their life. That also means that every person that died before Jesus did also must have gone to hell, including all of the Jews that believed in the lovely Old Testament god. Also, what about all of the children who die before they can know about Jesus.
I personally don't need to be born again, I was born fine the first time.
mugzlax at 12:13PM on Nov 16th 2007
73. If my child grows up to be either of those, I would be a failure of a father. I would not be physically responsible for his actions, but I would feel responsible that he or she turned out that way. I will do my best to intervene before any of that happens.
With this, I say that if god does exist, then he is a failure as a father.
John Mayoral at 11:52AM on Nov 16th 2007
John, many children grow up and leave that which they were taught. It's not necessarily the fault of the parent. If a child is taught to do good, but does bad the rest of his/her life, how is this a reflection of the way the child was raised. The child knew what to do from the parents' instructions but chose to ignore them anyway. How can you blame yourself for the child's actions if you did what you could? The child/grown up, is responsible for his/her own actions, and you know it.
dena at 12:16PM on Nov 16th 2007
74. lol, oh Stuart, don't pout. here's a kiss on the cheek for ya.
dena at 12:19PM on Nov 16th 2007
75. (To further Mugzlax's issue) One question I've always wanted to ask a Christian (the kind who thinks you need to be "saved" to dodge hellfire) is if they think it's right and fair for the world to be that way, or that that's just the way it is, and getting "saved" is just what the cruel world order forces us to do. I've also always wanted to word it better than that.
Mokele Mbembe at 12:20PM on Nov 16th 2007