Flew: He has seen the evidence

Thus starts a thread on ARN by JeffM

Flew told The Associated Press his current ideas have some similarity with American "intelligent design" theorists, who see evidence for a guiding force in the construction of the universe.

Recent updates however show that Flew did not see the evidence and that his "conversion to Intelligent Design" was, as is so often the case, based on ignorance rather than fact.


On Panda's Thumb Matt Yong reports of an update on the Flew story.

Seems that much to Flew's own embarassment, he was not aware of the evidence and was misled by some.

Once again we see a good example of how "Intelligent Design" is just an argument from ignorance.

JeffM did not respond well to the news

Perhaps the most important lesson to be learned from the Flew episode is in the reaction of his former associates. Here are the defenders of reason in all their glory. Now that Mr. Carrier has completed this smear, you can almost hear him going back to his recitations. Listen:

"I am objective and reasonable, I am objective and reasonable, I am objective and reasonable..."

Similarly Jonathan Witt, a senior fellow of the Discovery Institute's Center for [s]the renewal of[/s] Science & Culture, writes:

Flew insists that the scientific establishment has simply failed to answer this question persuasively, and he singles out Richard Dawkins, another influential British atheist and leading proponent of Darwinism: “Richard Dawkins constantly overlooks the fact that Darwin himself, in the fourteenth chapter of The Origin of Species, pointed out that his whole argument began with a being which already possessed reproductive powers.”

Will Witt update his letter? Is ID really self-correcting?

Time will tell

Relevant links

• My Pilgrimage from Atheism to Theism An Exclusive Interview with Former British Atheist Professor Antony Flew
  
• Antony Flew's Conversion to Deism: An Update
  
• ntony Flew Considers God...Sort Of by Richard Carrier

Read more!