Re: Famous Atheist Now Believes in God

[Christopher D. Green]

While I'm more or les inclined to agree with your analysis, Nancy, I think what they journalist (NOTE!) means by this is that Flew is convinced by a kind of "inference to the best explanation" on the issue of first cause of the universe, rather than on the basis of a "personal experience of the divine" or some such. (Isn't there a point where the "best" available explanation is so bad that it is not worth inferring, even pro tem, and so we should just hold off adhering to *any* specific belief on the matter until we think of something better?) It is intersting that religious folk are celebrating Flew's "conversion" as a "victory." There was a time when one would have been excommunicated (or worse) for "merely" being a deist of this sort. Averroes got in a good deal of trouble for this sort of thing, as I recall. (And some American evangelists spend a good deal of time trying to *deny* that Thomas Jefferson and several other of the "Founding Fathers" were deists of pretty much this same ilk.) Regards, -- Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3J 1P3 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] phone: 416-736-5115 ext. 66164 fax: 416-736-5814 http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ ============================ . [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: In a message dated 12/10/2004 2:02:21 A.M. Pacific Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: He now believes in God ¨€” more or less ¨€” based on scientific evidence, and says so on a video released Thursday. This in itself is an illogical concept. There IS no scientific evidence for¨ God, because God is not a scientific concept. God is metaphysical and belief is a matter of FAITH. ¨  People who¨ look to science for evidence of God are demonstrating a lack of faith and I guess they really don't believe in anything - he may say he is a former¨ atheist but I don't think much has changed at all. Drivel. ¨  Nancy Melucci Long Beach City College --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: archive@jab.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]