One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest?
by Rich Deem

No, this page is not about the 1975 movie staring Jack Nicholson. However, atheists are up in arms thinking that Professor Antony Flew has lost his mind. Flew, age 81, has been a legendary proponent and debater for atheism for decades, stating that "onus of proof [of God] must lie upon the theist."¹ However, in 2004, Prof. Flew did the unheard of action of renouncing his atheism because "the argument to Intelligent Design is enormously stronger than it was when I first met it."² In a recent interview, Flew stated, "It now seems to me that the findings of more than fifty years of Deoxyribonucleic acid: the chemical inside the nucleus of a cell that carries the genetic instructions for making living organisms.DNA research have provided materials for a new and enormously powerful argument to design." Flew also renounced naturalistic theories of evolution:

"It has become inordinately difficult even to begin to think about constructing a naturalistic theory of the evolution of that first reproducing organism."³

In Flew�s own words, he simply "had to go where the evidence leads."⁴ According to Flew, "...it seems to me that the case for an Aristotelian God who has the characteristics of power and also intelligence, is now much stronger than it ever was before."² Flew also indicated that he liked arguments that proceeded from big bang cosmology. However, Antony Flew does not believe in the existence of a good God who is involved in the lives of human beings, because of the problem of evil. He ascribes very much to the God of Einstein and Spinoza, who created the universe and life on earth and left the scene. He does not believe in an afterlife.

For a man who has spent decades promoting atheism, this decision came as quite a shock to atheists and theists alike. As a former agnostic, I followed a similar path through my undergraduate studies in biology. I became a deist in 1973 after realizing that the naturalistic theories on the origin of life were not plausible. Today, the evidence against abiogenesis is much stronger than even at that time. Therefore, I believe that, at a minimum, deism is the logical choice regarding the question of God.

Read Antony Flew's new book, There Is a God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind

References

Antony Flew. The Presumption of Atheism (London: Pemberton, 1976), 14.
Atheist Becomes Theist: Exclusive Interview with Former Atheist Antony Flew at Biola University (PDF version).
Philosophy Now magazine, August-September 2004. Reported in "Famous Atheist Now Believes in God", ABC news.
Telephone conversation with Dr. Gary R. Habermas Professor Philosophy and Theology, September 9, 2004.

Today's New Reason to Believe
Integrating Science and Faith

11/05/2012 12:52 AM
Imperial College Debate on Evidence for God
In spring of 2012, my colleague Kenneth Samples and I spent several days in London, England, speaking in universities, churches, leadership gatherings, and at a conference. God gave us a wonderful opportunity to take RTB’s message of science-faith compatibility overseas. Here I recap my interactions with distinguished professor Lewis Wolpert. **** On May 24, 2012, … Read more
()
11/01/2012 12:30 AM
Resource Highlight: Creation Day Debates
Earlier this week, guest writer Otis Graf explained how the ejection dynamics of meteoroids from the star Beta Pictoris and the meteoroids’ detection on Earth cannot be reconciled with a young universe—thus challenging young-earth proponent Dr. Jason Lisle’s model for solving the distant starlight problem. RTB’s Hugh Ross and Fazale Rana have debated Dr. Lisle … Read more
()
10/29/2012 12:44 AM
Alien Particles Challenge a Young-Earth Creation Model
A collimated beam of meteoroids from the star Beta Pictoris has been discovered. However, the ejection dynamics at the star and the meteoroids’ detection on Earth cannot be reconciled with a young universe. This discovery directly challenges two tenets of young-earth proponent Dr. Jason Lisle’s model for solving the distant starlight problem. **** The 1950s … Read more
()
10/25/2012 12:05 PM
TNRTB Classic: Basking in UV Radiation
On Monday, guest writer and visiting scholar Hugh Henry discussed research into the effects of radiation on the human body. Despite our fear of radiation, it seems that God has designed the human physiology to withstand a reasonable about of exposure. Check out this previous TNRTB from Fazale Rana on how our DNA reacts to … Read more
()
10/25/2012 12:34 AM
TNRTB Classic: Basking in UV Radiation
On Monday, guest writer and visiting scholar Hugh Henry discussed research into the effects of radiation on the human body. Despite our fear of radiation, it seems that God has designed the human physiology to withstand a reasonable about of exposure. Check out this previous TNRTB from Fazale Rana on how our DNA reacts to … Read more
()
10/22/2012 12:50 PM
“Deadly” Radiation and God’s Design
A feature article in the August 2012 issue of Scientific American trumpets a scary warning: “Deadly Rays from Clouds—Thunderstorms Give Out Powerful Blasts of X-Rays and Gamma Rays.”1 Headlines are written to grab the reader’s attention—whether or not the article’s content lives up to the hype. At the end of this particular article, the authors … Read more
()
10/18/2012 12:26 AM
TNRTB Classic: Increased Oxygen
Earth experienced many events that brought it to the brink of becoming a barren wasteland. Two dramatic increases in the atmospheric oxygen content (2.5 and 0.8 billion years ago, respectively) resulted in mile-thick ice sheets that nearly encased the planet. Yet Earth rebounded from all these events, better prepared for the new life that arrived … Read more
()
10/15/2012 12:17 AM
First Plants Bring Major Climate Change
RTB’s creation model posits that the change in life throughout Earth’s history reflects the work of a divine intelligence transforming a hostile-to-life planet into one capable of supporting humanity. As the environs change, so must the life. Studies of the first plant life on the continents show how the plants altered the land and atmosphere … Read more
()
10/11/2012 12:36 AM
TNRTB Classic: Junk DNA and the Nucleoskeletal Hypothesis
A few days ago I wrote about the ENCODE project and the new recognition that, at minimum, 80 percent of the human genome consists of functional DNA elements. Despite some skeptics’ complaints that the media, creationists, and intelligent design adherents have misconstrued the ENCODE report, the project’s results stand. The human genome is not a vast … Read more
()
10/08/2012 12:26 AM
Responding to ENCODE “Skeptics”
Recently, the ENCODE Project Consortium reported that 80 percent of the human genome consists of functional elements, major indicators of design. But some skeptics assert (loudly) that the results of the ENCODE project have been overhyped and misconstrued. In this article, I respond to the most salient points made by the ENCODE “skeptics.” The human … Read more
()

Science News Flash

http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/flew.html
Last Modified August 20, 2007

Evidence for God from Science: Christian Apologetics

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest? by Rich Deem

Related Pages

References

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest?
by Rich Deem