In 2003, William Lane Craig (left) debated Anthony Flew (right) on the subject Does God Exist? Anthony Flew argued the Atheist position and Dr. Craig argued for the Christian Theist position. Here is is the debate:
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This debate also shows William Lane Craig's Arminianism when it comes to discussing why we have a reality where "evil" exists. I liked Craig's answer on hell, however. I also have to say that Flew actually did show some respect to Craig by obviously having read some of his Craig's work. I really did not think that the debate would also include discussing Free Will. As an Arminian, Craig isn't equipperd to deal with that. Flew, I've got to admit, may have one this one.
I looked up Anthony Flew on Wikipedia. He is one of the most influential philosophers of the 20th century. The man has been an atheist for much of his life. He is now 86 years old and sometime after 2003 he has embraced theism. This means that he believes that there is a God who created the universe but rejects Christianity and Islam. Here is what I read on Wikipedia
Conversion from atheism
On several occasions, apparently starting in 2001, rumours circulated claiming that Flew had converted from atheism. Flew denied these rumours on the Secular Web website.[10]
In January 2003 Flew and Gary Habermas, his friend and philosophical adversary, conducted a dialogue on the resurrection at California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo. During a couple of telephone discussions shortly after that dialogue, Flew explained to Habermas that he was considering becoming a theist. While Flew did not change his position at that time (he signed the Humanist Manifesto III), he concluded that certain philosophical and scientific considerations were causing him to do some serious rethinking. He characterized his position as that of atheism standing in tension with several huge question marks.[11]
In December 2004, an interview with Flew conducted by Gary Habermas was published in the journal Philosophia Christi (published by the Evangelical Philosophical Society with the assistance of Biola University), with the title, Atheist Becomes Theist - Exclusive Interview with Former Atheist Antony Flew. Flew agreed to this title.[3] According to the introduction, Flew informed Habermas in January 2004 that he had become a deist,[3] and the interview took place shortly thereafter. Then the text was amended by both participants over the following months prior to publication. In the article Flew states that he has left his long-standing espousal of atheism by endorsing a deism of the sort that Thomas Jefferson advocated ("While reason, mainly in the form of arguments to design, assures us that there is a God, there is no room either for any supernatural revelation of that God or for any transactions between that God and individual human beings."). Flew stated that "the most impressive arguments for God’s existence are those that are supported by recent scientific discoveries" and that "the argument to Intelligent Design is enormously stronger than it was when I first met it". He also answered in the affirmative to Habermas's question, "So of the major theistic arguments, such as the cosmological, teleological, moral, and ontological, the only really impressive ones that you take to be decisive are the scientific forms of teleology?". He supported the idea of an Aristotelian God with "the characteristics of power and also intelligence", stating that the evidence for it was stronger than ever before. He rejects the ideas of an afterlife, of God as the source of good (he explicitly states that God has created "a lot of" evil), and of the resurrection of Jesus as an historical fact though he has allowed a short chapter arguing for Christ's resurrection to be added into his latest book.[3]
Flew is particularly hostile to Islam, and says it is "best described in a Marxian way as the uniting and justifying ideology of Arab imperialism."[3] In a December 2004 interview he said: "I'm thinking of a God very different from the God of the Christian and far and away from the God of Islam, because both are depicted as omnipotent Oriental despots, cosmic Saddam Husseins".[12]
Although Flew has not publicly endorsed Christianity, to my knowledge, it is a major change to have taught and endorsed atheism and now accept that there is a God. It's huge. I hope he gets a chance to do embrace the light of Christ. I have in the past written a post that shows a video of Flew talking about his conversion.
http://mmcelhaney.blogspot.com/2009/04/habermas-flew-wright-dialogue-mp3-audio.html\
In listening to Flew, it seems to me that he does not truly understand how bad sin really is. He does not see how punishments in hell are justified and commisserate with the sins people commit in life. Although he does recognize God's existence, he does not know God. He has had no relationship with God. I hope he will be able to have that before his life is over. My grandfather just died 2 weeks ago at 84 and he gave his life to Jesus at age 79. I would artgure that he knew more about God's character and who God is than Flew does. Flew only knows what God is - the Creator of the Universe - not who He is.
And here is another article about Anthony Flew's conversion.
Anthony Flew: There Is A God
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