Relam Posted May 15, 2018 #1 Share Posted May 15, 2018 Why Anthony Flew went from atheist to theist? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHaYap Posted May 15, 2018 #2 Share Posted May 15, 2018 That's easy ... he took one Flew over the cuckoo's nest ... ~ 2 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmccr8 Posted May 15, 2018 #3 Share Posted May 15, 2018 3 hours ago, Relam said: Why Anthony Flew went from atheist to theist? Hi Relam I would tend to think that it was a personal choice, and not knowing him personally have no idea but it is his choice to make. Why is it significant to you and how does it impact your life? jmccr8 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Relam Posted May 15, 2018 Author #4 Share Posted May 15, 2018 34 minutes ago, jmccr8 said: Hi Relam I would tend to think that it was a personal choice, and not knowing him personally have no idea but it is his choice to make. Why is it significant to you and how does it impact your life? jmccr8 Just confusing. Why such a hardcore atheist who wrote many books on nonexistence of god started to believe in God in the end. Fear of death or something more? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Relam Posted May 15, 2018 Author #5 Share Posted May 15, 2018 2 hours ago, third_eye said: That's easy ... he took one Flew over the cuckoo's nest ... ~ He literally flew from atheist to theist 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHaYap Posted May 15, 2018 #6 Share Posted May 15, 2018 24 minutes ago, Relam said: He literally flew from atheist to theist I don't think it is such that great a deal that you think it is to you or 'God' ... ~ [00.03:58] ~ 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XenoFish Posted May 15, 2018 #7 Share Posted May 15, 2018 Does it even matter why? 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Relam Posted May 15, 2018 Author #8 Share Posted May 15, 2018 (edited) 17 minutes ago, XenoFish said: Does it even matter why? Of course,even the cucko matters 24 minutes ago, third_eye said: I don't think it is such that great a deal that you think it is to you or 'God' ... ~ [00.03:58] ~ Great info about fricking cuckoo I finally found meaning of life Edited May 15, 2018 by Relam 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHaYap Posted May 15, 2018 #9 Share Posted May 15, 2018 (edited) 1 minute ago, Relam said: Great info about fricking cuckoo I finally found meaning of life Don't go trying to fly off the roof of any tall buildings now ... ~ Edited May 15, 2018 by third_eye keyboard stutter 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eight bits Posted May 15, 2018 #10 Share Posted May 15, 2018 Seriously? It was a slow process. He wasn't actually an atheist, he was an agnostic, but preferred to reserve the word for what he thought Huxley had originally intended, so he was a hedge-word atheist who didn't correct people when they dropped the hedge word. And he didn't end up a "theist" in any usual sense; he was last sighted as a deist (no divine revelation, no divine involvement in human affairs, and no survival of the human mind after death). The precise sequence of events is tedious, but the turning point probably was when he realized there was a (possible) technical flaw in the short paper that had made him world-famous decades before. That didn't in itself turn him around (since he was in substance an agnostic, there'd be nothing new in the possibility that a kind of god could exist), but it got the ball rolling, IMO. Anyway, he got interested in Einstein's ideas about good order in the universe being the product of some sort of mind. Flew was especially taken with the biological perspective on that. After an embarrassing (I think) flirtation with Behe's ideas of irreducible complexity (supposedly His Unholiness Richard Dawkins himself straightened Flew out about Behe), Flew accepted evolution by natural selection, bit still saw a role for a mind in the first life form and the complexity of the genetic code itself. Meanwhile, the clock was ticking, and Flew became more and more compromised by advancing dementia (good chance that it was Alzheimer's, but regardless, it was a long time coming and devastating once it passed a certain point). In his last years before instutionalization, he was "handled" by Christian friends he'd met during debates years before. With friends like that, he didn't need enemies. The "World's most famous atheist now believes in God" promos were the work of those friends. He "wrote" a book with their help; smart money says he didn't do much of the writing, because he probably couldn't read with comprehension. Very sad. I hope somewhere in all that is a pointer to what you're looking for. A series of three blog posts on the various points raised can be found here: https://uncertaintist.wordpress.com/tag/antony-flew/ 3 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcus Aurelius Posted May 24, 2018 #11 Share Posted May 24, 2018 For those of you who might be interested, I have published two articles on Anthony Flew and his book. They are linked below: http://www.stateofformation.org/2015/07/natural-theology-from-a-former-atheist-a-book-review-of-anthony-flews-there-is-a-god-part-i/http://www.stateofformation.org/2015/09/natural-theology-from-a-former-atheist-a-book-review-of-anthony-flews-there-is-a-god-part-ii/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XenoFish Posted May 24, 2018 #12 Share Posted May 24, 2018 Holy Hell!!! Do my eye's deceive me. It's Marcus. How you been? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now