Worlds Most Famous Atheist Accepts Existence of God, Cites Modern Science

The best-known atheist of the last 50 years, Professor Antony Flew, made the announcement in a symposium on science and religion, that the discoveries of modern science have led him to accept the existence of God. Flew was joined in the symposium by leading Israeli scientist Gerald Schroeder and noted Scottish thinker John Haldane.

DALLAS, TX (PRWEB) December 15, 2004 -- The Institute for Metascientific Research (IMR) announced today that one of the best-known atheists in the academic world, Professor Antony Flew of the University of Reading, United Kingdom, has accepted the existence of God. In a symposium sponsored by the IMR at New York University earlier this year, Professor Flew stated that developments in modern science had led him to accept the action of an Intelligent Mind in the creation of the world. In Has Science Discovered God?", the recording of the symposium released today, Flew said his conclusion was influenced by developments in DNA research.

What I think the DNA material has done is show that intelligence must have been involved in getting these extraordinarily diverse elements together," he said. The enormous complexity by which the results were achieved look to me like the work of intelligence."

It speaks very well of Professor Flews honesty," observed Americas pre-eminent philosopher of religion Alvin Plantinga. After all these years of opposing the idea of a Creator, he reverses his position on the basis of the evidence."

In 1955, Flew set the agenda for atheism with Theology and Falsification," a paper first presented at a meeting of the Oxford University Socratic Club chaired by C.S. Lewis. This work was reportedly the most widely reprinted philosophical publication of the last half century. Over the decades, he has authored 28 books and edited 12 others; at least 10 of his books were critiques of belief in God. He has also had debates and discussions with a wide range of religious believers. In one such debate, he declared: We reject all transcendent supernatural systems, not because weve examined or could have examined each in turn, but because it does not seem to us that there is any good evidence in reason to postulate anything behind or beyond this natural universe."

Also participating in the NYU symposium were Dr. Gerald Schroeder from Israel, Dr. John Haldane from Scotland and Dr. Paul C. Vitz from New York. The MIT-trained Schroeder, who once taught at MIT in Boston and worked at the Weizmann Institute and Hebrew University laboratories in Israel, is the author of the best-selling book The Science of God. Haldane is Professor of Philosophy at St. Andrews University in Scotland and the author of numerous publications on culture, philosophy and religion. He delivered the Stanton Lectures at Cambridge University and is scheduled to deliver the prestigious Gifford Lectures at Aberdeen University in 2005. His widely publicized debate with J.J.C. Smart on the existence of God was published by the famous Oxford academic publisher Blackwell as Atheism and Theism. Vitz, professor of psychology at NYU, is the leading psychologist of religion in the U.S. His many books include Psychology as Religion and Faith of the Fatherless.

In the course of the symposium, the participants address the origins of the universe, life, reproduction, consciousness, language and the mind while also discussing the existence of God, the problem of evil and the roots of atheism. Although many biologists have not considered the philosophical implications of DNA or reproduction, this dimension is of particular interest to professional philosophers Flew and Haldane. One theme of discussion is the thesis that of all of the great discoveries of modern science, the greatest is God.

The IMR is providing a four-minute video news release on the symposium. Also available are two programs based on the symposium, the 50-minute Has Science Discovered God?" and a 180-minute reference documentary on the existence of God, the message of modern science and the roots of atheism, along with a companion volume, The Wonder of the World -- A Journey from Modern Science to the Mind of God.

The narrator for the Has Science Discovered God?" program is world-renowned journalist David Aikman, a senior and foreign correspondent for Time magazine for more than 23 years who has reported from five continents and 60 nations. He is currently editor-at-large for the Internet-based Newsroom.

About the Institute for Metascientific Research
The Institute for Metascientific Research is a debate and dialogue forum for the interface between science, philosophy and religion. Cosmos, Bios, Theos (Open Court), a book discussing these themes with 24 Nobel Prize winners, was edited under the aegis of the IMR. Its most recent production is the book The Wonder of the World -- A Journey from Modern Science to the Mind of God (Tyr). The IMR had organized two previous symposia (including one at Yale University) with Professor Flew and other well-known atheists and theists and also hosted a special presentation by him on the 40th anniversary (1995) of the publication of Theology and Falsification".

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