How The World's Most Notorious Atheist Became A Believer In God - Religion - Nairaland
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| How The World's Most Notorious Atheist Became A Believer In God by denigma2(m): 2:35pm On Aug 24, 2015 |
For the last half of the twentieth century, Antony Flew (1923-2010) was the world's most famous atheist. Long before Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Sam Harris began taking swipes at religion, Flew was the preeminent spokesman for unbelief. However in 2004, he shocked the world by announcing he had come to believe in God. While never embracing any Religion, Flew only believed in the deistic, Aristotelian conception of God—he became one of the most high-profile and surprising atheist converts. In 2007, he recounted his conversion in a book titled There is a God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind. Some critics suggested Flew's mental capacity had declined and therefore we should question the credibility of his conversion. Others hailed Flew's book as a legitimate and landmark publication. A couple months before the book's release, Flew sat down with Strange Notions contributor Dr. Benjamin Wiker for an interview about his book, his conversion, and the reasons that led him to God. Read below and enjoy! Dr. Benjamin Wiker: You say in There is a God, that "it may well be that no one is as surprised as I am that my exploration of the Divine has after all these years turned from denial...to discovery." Everyone else was certainly very surprised as well, perhaps all the more so since on our end, it seemed so sudden. But in There is a God, we find that it was actually a very gradual process—a "two decade migration," as you call it. God was the conclusion of a rather long argument, then. But wasn't there a point in the "argument" where you found yourself suddenly surprised by the realization that "There is a God" after all? So that, in some sense, you really did "hear a Voice that says" in the evidence itself "'Can you hear me now?'" Antony Flew: There were two factors in particular that were decisive. One was my growing empathy with the insight of Einstein and other noted scientists that there had to be an Intelligence behind the integrated complexity of the physical Universe. The second was my own insight that the integrated complexity of life itself—which is far more complex than the physical Universe—can only be explained in terms of an Intelligent Source. I believe that the origin of life and reproduction simply cannot be explained from a biological standpoint despite numerous efforts to do so. With every passing year, the more that was discovered about the richness and inherent intelligence of life, the less it seemed likely that a chemical soup could magically generate the genetic code. The difference between life and non-life, it became apparent to me, was ontological and not chemical. The best confirmation of this radical gulf is Richard Dawkins' comical effort to argue in The God Delusion that the origin of life can be attributed to a "lucky chance." If that's the best argument you have, then the game is over. No, I did not hear a Voice. It was the evidence itself that led me to this conclusion. Wiker: You are famous for arguing for a presumption of atheism, i.e., as far as arguments for and against the existence of God, the burden of proof lies with the theist. Given that you believe that you only followed the evidence where it led, and it led to theism, it would seem that things have now gone the other way, so that the burden of proof lies with the atheist. He must prove that God doesn't exist. What are your thoughts on that? Flew: I note in my book that some philosophers indeed have argued in the past that the burden of proof is on the atheist. I think the origins of the laws of nature and of life and the Universe point clearly to an intelligent Source. The burden of proof is on those who argue to the contrary. You can read the full interview on: http://thedeenshow.com/watch/3352/how-the-worlds-most-notorious-atheist-changed-his-mind |
| Re: How The World's Most Notorious Atheist Became A Believer In God by Nobody: 2:38pm On Aug 24, 2015 |
and so what...? Doesnt change any fact.. 1 Like |
| Re: How The World's Most Notorious Atheist Became A Believer In God by Nobody: 2:39pm On Aug 24, 2015 |
and so what...? Doesnt change any fact.. 1 Like |
| Re: How The World's Most Notorious Atheist Became A Believer In God by menesheh(m): 3:11pm On Aug 24, 2015 |
really senility is not a bad phenomenon. The man was pretty old and the fear of dead gripped him. The notion of leaving behind his awards and respects became a heck to him. He made no demonstration of anything in support of the existence of a god. His old age arguments have been debunked severally. One funny thing is not about using the word notorious to describe one or few notable intellectuals that went back to Christianity or any other organised religions. Even if the whole notable atheist intellectuals go back to creationism without apparent cause or evidence, it still doesn't make faith in any way a true proposition. Any atheist you encounter didn't become one by fallacious appeal to authority or intellect. One become an atheist by inference and induction, the same way you detect fallacious notions or a scammer who wants to swindle you of your hard earned money by telling silly stories. mind you, each one notable atheists you present here that turn back to faith after being an atheist, i will present you with one thousand of such intellectuals and notorious religious fundamentalists who turned from religiosity to atheism. @OP, watch this video and extract his reasons for turning back to religions (a particular one not all the religions). bring it up here lets see how the argument goes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHUtMEru4pQ 4 Likes |
| Re: How The World's Most Notorious Atheist Became A Believer In God by CaptainJune: 3:50pm On Aug 24, 2015 |
Like I always say, the evidence of God's existence is so overwhelming that it is undeniable. Only those with eyes that look but cannot see question the reality of God. |
| Re: How The World's Most Notorious Atheist Became A Believer In God by menesheh(m): 3:54pm On Aug 24, 2015 |
CaptainJune: your irrational meal is now served to you. enjoy  3 Likes 1 Share |
| Re: How The World's Most Notorious Atheist Became A Believer In God by plaetton: 4:10pm On Aug 24, 2015 |
menesheh: It's funny. It's funny that with all that our Sun gives us, Sun worshippers are chastised as pagans by people who believe in an invisible intelligent mystery Being. In other words, Sungod-atheists would try every known trick to prove to themselves that their own invisible, unknown and unknowable skyfairy is real. I just cant understand it. 4 Likes 1 Share |
| Re: How The World's Most Notorious Atheist Became A Believer In God by CaptainJune: 4:47pm On Aug 24, 2015 |
menesheh: That the complexity of design has an intelligent designer behind it is suddenly.......irrational? |
| Re: How The World's Most Notorious Atheist Became A Believer In God by menesheh(m): 5:00pm On Aug 24, 2015 |
CaptainJune: Why must there be an intelligent designer. Is intelligent being the most plausible explanation of the immensity and complexity of the physical universe, if yes, why is it that science don't consider supernatural explanation in the cause of their explaining any propable cause of the universe? Mind you, science as an enterprise comprises of both theists and atheists. 2 Likes 1 Share |
| Re: How The World's Most Notorious Atheist Became A Believer In God by johnydon22(m): 5:25pm On Aug 24, 2015 |
CaptainJune:The universe is complex right? yes good.. then going from your analogy the complexity of the universe requires a designer... then again you forgot that this designer must be super complex in order to have designed something as complex as the universe.. So in order for something that complex as the designer to exist, it must have been designed by another designer who in turn also requires a greater designer and so it stretches into an infinite regress of designers..  5 Likes 2 Shares |
| Re: How The World's Most Notorious Atheist Became A Believer In God by Brown47: 5:45pm On Aug 24, 2015 |
johnydon22: i tell you bro this people are funny. They will tell you that the complexity of this world will call for a designer, but they would fail to reason that he who design the world must also need a more!! complex designer which will bring a chain of who design who till infinity. 5 Likes 1 Share |
| Re: How The World's Most Notorious Atheist Became A Believer In God by Stconvict(m): 6:19pm On Aug 24, 2015 |
CaptainJune:Designers designing designers. Crazy right? When you start thinking about it for a deep thinker, it starts to hurt your brain, more reason for crazy religious ppl to throw their story books into fire. If you know maths, then you know taking 1 out of infinity still gives you infinity. There is simply no god as you guys purport. Quit wasting your time in churches and start reasoning. 1 Like |
| Re: How The World's Most Notorious Atheist Became A Believer In God by wordcat(m): 7:09pm On Aug 24, 2015 |
johnydon22: There's no better way to tell them 2 Likes 1 Share |
| Re: How The World's Most Notorious Atheist Became A Believer In God by denigma2(m): 11:51pm On Aug 24, 2015 |
johnydon22:It is one thing to realise that there has to be a grand designer for the complex universe, it is another thing to know the qualities this Grand Designer possess. If you can't grasp His creations in its entirety, how do you expect to grasp the Creator's location, size, origin etc You know the limitation of the human eye interms of light intensity, grasp, visibility etcetera just as you know the limitations of other organs and those of other animals. If the fact that you can't feel the texture of Pluto as a planet but you feel you should be able to know the origin and location of the Creator of the Milky Way doesn't amuse you, nothing will |
| Re: How The World's Most Notorious Atheist Became A Believer In God by johnydon22(m): 12:27am On Aug 25, 2015 |
denigma2:Good try.... But try harder next time the same you will turn around and tell me it has a son, or wait has a specially chosen people or chose a sun baked arab man... same being you are here implying is unknowable.. Anyway the issue here remains since you think the universe requires a creator since it is complex, this creator too must be very or in fact too complex to have been able to create the universe so don't you think must also require a creator? 1 Like |
| Re: How The World's Most Notorious Atheist Became A Believer In God by Stconvict(m): 1:29am On Aug 25, 2015 |
denigma2:You guys don't always make sense in your arguments and it says sth about how you reason. I even wonder why you use concepts proven by scientists to claim the existence of god. Here you mention planets and galaxies, but you refuse to accept the Big Bang Theory. Before you, christains have always claimed that god lives in the sky, now that science has taken man beyond earth's stratosphere, you guys are now giving us the bullsh*t story that he is invisible and he's everywhere. And please don't give us the recurring crap that he is self-existent. If he can be self-existent, why can't the universe be self-existent? |
| Re: How The World's Most Notorious Atheist Became A Believer In God by denigma2(m): 6:42am On Aug 25, 2015 |
Stconvict:When would atheists ever realise that the existence of God and Science are not parallel lines.? Science discovers some ( not all) of what God created. Is that difficult to decipher? The galaxies, planets, earth and all you mentioned where discovered by man through scientific methods? Yes. Who created them? The issue is not the existence of the Big Bang. The issue is who created the Big Entity that made the Bang? And to your question about the universe being self-existent because God is self-existent, note that your inability to admit the limitations of your knowledge about all things in existence is the major problem The fact that we keep on discovering things about the Universe on a daily basis shoułd point out to you that there are much more that we are ignorant about. |
| Re: How The World's Most Notorious Atheist Became A Believer In God by Stconvict(m): 9:48am On Aug 25, 2015 |
denigma2:You still contradict yourself. If we don't know everything (which we don't) and our knowledge is limited (which it is), then why is your own knowledge that claims god exist even valid? Dude, in this world we all rely on our knowledge. If we don't, we won't be on NL sharing our views. |
| Re: How The World's Most Notorious Atheist Became A Believer In God by denigma2(m): 3:23pm On Aug 25, 2015 |
Stconvict: As the original post states, the burden of proof is on the person defending the fact that something came from nothing. Thus you still asking if God exists is like going backwards by miles. Fine, you cant see the Creator but you can see His creations. I told you God created the whole Universe, you said the Universe came from nothing, which requires proof? Being a scientific person that I assume you to be, the next question I expected you to ask is what are the qualities that God possess that makes him different from the things you see which are functions of matter, time and space. Then we can move on 1 Like 1 Share |
| Re: How The World's Most Notorious Atheist Became A Believer In God by An2elect2(f): 4:07pm On Aug 25, 2015 |
Hahaha one man became wise at last |
| Re: How The World's Most Notorious Atheist Became A Believer In God by denigma2(m): 5:03pm On Aug 25, 2015 |
johnydon22:Because of people that may find it difficult to believe in God and His Commands, He sent different persons at different times to different nations to relay who God is, what He expects from us and the consequences of adhering to or neglecting His commands. Adam, Noah, Moses, Jesus, Muhammed and several other Prophets were sent. And I didn't mention to you that He has a son. He is unlike what He created , thus God doesn't have a son. As I stated, he has chosen messengers not sons |
| Re: How The World's Most Notorious Atheist Became A Believer In God by Elevation(m): 6:06pm On Aug 28, 2015 |
God created the whole earth with His word only.Genesis 1:1-2...... If any person says there is no God then he or she is foolish.Psalm 14 verse 1. |
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