Here's what I don't understand about this. Why do people of faith think that what Anthony Flew said or didn't say about atheism will make any difference to any other atheist?
Atheism, quite unlike most religions, doesn't depend on authoritative statements by particular individuals, even if they are the "most influential" atheist. So someone else nearing the end of his life may have changed his mind. It doesn't invalidate my own conclusions based on my reasoning, particularly since the argument doesn't seem to be based on anything new, but it merely a rehash of the same old arguments that have been going around for years.
What if the situation were reversed? Imagine that the Pope were to come out tomorrow and say, "I've rethought things and now conclude that there is no god." Do you think that every catholic in the world would abandon their faith?
I recognize that there's a great deal of reason to suspect that this book isn't really the work of Flew himself. But even beyond that, why should anyone care if in fact he did change his mind?
Those who would sacrifice an essential liberty for a temporary security will lose both, and deserve neither. -- Benjamin Franklin
We see monsters where science shows us windmills. -- Phat
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