God or No God: The Story of Anthony Flew

Simon Yuan

If for the past half century you have been the most famous atheist scholar in the world, you have written some of the most famous articles attacking theism, you have debated with many famous theism experts around the world, on a global scale , you are an idol worshiped by many atheists. You suddenly announced that you are no longer an atheist and you have transformed into a theist. You can imagine how big an "earthquake" your announcement will cause in the media. Between atheism and How much influence will there be in the two camps of theism. In shock, one wonders why the world's most famous atheist abandoned his stance and became a theist? Did you experience a miracle that caused you to change your stance?

On December 9, 2004, the Associated Press broke a major piece of news: “A British philosopher who has been the world’s leading atheist for the past half century has changed his stance. , he announced via video that, based on scientific evidence, he now believes in the existence of God." The British philosopher is Antony Flew. Due to the history and status of Anthony Flew, the impact of this news is conceivable. On a global scale, newspapers, television, radio, and the Internet reprinted this sensational news. The Associated Press cooperated with this This report also produced two follow-up reports. In the report, the Associated Press also pointed out that in a telephone interview, Professor Anthony Flew said that at the age of 81, he concluded that the universe was created by an intelligent being and that an intelligent being was the origin of life. and the only explanation for the complexity of nature. Anthony Flew calls himself a deist, a deist like Thomas Jefferson, one of the founding fathers of the United States. In other words, Anthony Flew believes that God created everything in the universe, but does not Intervene into people's lives.

Anthony Fourw was once the most famous atheist in the world, but he was born in a pastor's family. He attended a church school when he was a boy. According to Anthony Flew himself, he was a Christian when he was a boy. , however, he did not have much enthusiasm for church worship and religious books since he was a child. He had greater enthusiasm for books on politics, literature, and philosophy. When he graduated from middle school, Flew was already an atheist. , the main reason that pushed Flew to be an atheist is the evil that exists in the world. Flew believes that the evil that exists in the world cannot coexist with the all-good God. Later, evil and difficulty also became the main basis for Frew to attack theism, especially Christianity.

As the most famous atheist philosopher, Anthony Flew became famous in the early 1950s when he wrote a short essay "Theology and Forgery", which was originally published in the Socratic Club of Oxford University. Hosted by the famous Christian apologist C-S-Lewis, some Christians in Oxford held conversations with atheists on theology, philosophy, science and other fields. Although "Theology and Forgery" has only one thousand words, it has been the most reprinted philosophical document in the past half century. In the article "Theology and Forgery", on the surface, Flew's denial of God is general, but he is completely targeting the God of the Bible. Flew mainly denies the existence of God with two points. First, Flew tells a fable, saying that two explorers came to an open space in the jungle. In this clearing, there were some flowers and weeds. One explorer said , a gardener built this garden, another explorer said that there was no gardener. The two explorers set up a tent to observe, but never saw the gardener coming out. Flew believed that because the gardener was never seen, the theory that the garden was designed and made by the gardener did not exist at all; Furthermore, it is not Frew's invention to directly question the loving God of Christianity. For a long time, atheists have raised the issue of suffering. Why would a loving God allow suffering to exist, such as those children with cancer? Frew said that the Christian God is a loving heavenly father, but when a child dies of a terminal illness, the child’s father on earth is eager to treat the child, but the almighty father in heaven does not show concern for the child. Therefore, if God's love does not exist, then God does not exist either.

So why has Frew transitioned from a staunch atheist to a theist over the past few years? The ancient Greek philosopher Socrates had a famous saying: "Follow the evidence, wherever it leads." That was the motto that Flew believed in throughout his life. Over the past few decades, he believed that the evidence led him to atheists. , and in the last few years of his life, this famous saying of Socrates also led him to the field of theists.

In Frew's 2007 book "There is a God," he  his experience following the evidence that led him to theism.

Flew was born in a religious family, his father was a famous pastor. By the time he graduated from high school, Flew had lost his faith, mostly because of the conflict between an all-powerful, all-loving God and an evil world. Frew's arguments against theism mainly came from philosophy. The article "Theology and Perjury" he published was the masterpiece of his argument, as well as his subsequent publication "God and Philosophy", in which Frew argued against He made a relatively systematic argument for the atheistic argument. He proposed that theistic design, celestial bodies, and moral arguments were all invalid. Ten years after the publication of "God and Philosophy", Flew published another masterpiece, "The Atheistic Assumption". Flew proposed that the discussion of the existence of God should start from the assumption of atheism. In this way, the discussion of the existence of God Looking at the problem from a completely new perspective, the burden of argument is entirely on the side of theism. If you believe in the existence of God, you must have a good foundation. Without such a good foundation, there is no rational position to believe in the existence of God.

In addition to writing books and writings, Frew has debated with many theists over the past few decades. Flew recalled that among his many debates, two debates attracted the largest audience. In 1976, he debated with Thomas Warren in Denton, Texas, with between 5,000 and 7,000 people watching. The other was a 1998 debate with William Lane Craig in Madison, Wisconsin, with 4,000 people watching. Flew's last public debate was in May 2004, against Israeli scientist Gerald Schroeder. Surprisingly, he announced at the debate that I accepted the view that God exists. Rather than debating, he actually explained with Dr. Schroeder that the development of modern science revealed the existence of a higher intelligence. Among all the inventions of science, the best discovery was the existence of God. When asked whether the latest technology on the origin of life points to the existence of a creator, Flew replied, yes, he now believes so, mainly because of the discovery of DNA. Generating the unimaginable complexity of life requires an intelligent designer. Flew is referring to the same program in DNA as computer software.

Flew believed that the universe was created by a wise man. He believed that the natural laws in the universe were the thoughts of God. He believed that the origin of life came from God. Flew asked himself why he believed all three, especially since he had been fighting for atheistic views and positions for the past half century. Fundamentally, Flew's transformation has to do with a quote he believes in, from the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates: "Follow the evidence."

In the past few decades, Flew has been debating the existence of God from a philosophical perspective. His famous work "Theology and Perjury" has nothing to do with science. It denies the existence of God entirely from a philosophical point of view and is more emotional. He gave an example: a child is critically ill, and the father on earth wants to do everything possible to save the child, but the Father in heaven (God) is indifferent. Frew is asking why God doesn't save many children from diseases, but the Christian God is a loving Father, so God does not exist. The evidence that Flew now refers to is no longer in the realm of philosophy, but in the realm of science. Faced with such scientific evidence, Flew could no longer maintain his atheist position and became a theist. Interestingly, many people actually believe that the development of science has given them evidence to become atheists, or has strengthened their atheist beliefs. However, Flew's transformation was just the opposite, because Flew temporarily put aside philosophy and his own atheistic position, and had complete scientific evidence to lead him. Such evidence brought him to the side of God, and for many Humans, on the other hand, select evidence to support their atheistic stance from science.

Flew asked, who wrote the scientific laws of nature? Obviously, no matter how great scientists are, they cannot create the laws of science, they can only discover them. Paul Davies is a famous British physicist. Frew mentioned a speech given by Davies at the Templeton Foundation. Davies said that only when scientists absorb theological perspectives can science develop. Even if They are the most atheistic scientists. They also need to have confidence that there are laws in nature and that people can discover some of the laws. Davis pointed out that the laws of nature are not discovered through direct observation, but through experiments and mathematical theories. Those laws are written in nature in the form of cosmic codes. Scientists interpret those programs, and from From the discovery of the laws of nature, which is actually the message of God, the discovery of the laws of nature raises the following three questions:

Where do the laws of nature come from?

Why is this one set of laws and not another set of laws?

Why does such a law bring about life, consciousness and intelligence?

Davis added that these laws are just fine and precise enough to bring about and support life. Davis concluded that the law was not simply given, but had a deeper meaning.

Frew believes that the laws of the universe, the origin and existence of life are not accidents, but that there is a designer behind them, and that is God.

It should be said that scientific discoveries brought Flew to the side of theism, but science was not able to convert him into a Christian. Flew still needs to confront why a loving, almighty God allows evil and suffering to exist. Flew mentioned that there are two explanations for the existence of evil. One is Aristotle's point of view, that is, God created everything in the universe, but he did not intervene; the other point of view is that God gives people free will, and the emergence of evil is Man's free choice, if God stops evil every moment, would undoubtedly be a destruction of free will.

Frew said he was willing to know more about the God who created the universe. He had an in-depth discussion with the famous British Christian theologian NT Wright, and he included the record of their discussion in his book. He admitted that no other religion compared with Christianity lacked such a combination of the charismatic Jesus and the intellectual superiority of St. Paul.

Since, as the most staunch atheist in the world, Flew was able to move from atheism to God by following the evidence, if you are still an atheist, is it possible for you to have a transformation like Flew? Of course, the story of Flew's transformation from atheism to godship alone may not necessarily achieve your transformation. You yourself need more information to obtain the evidence that will lead you to transformation.

(Written in Chinese, and translated by Google Translate)