Antony Flew
Antony Garrard Newton Flew (11 February 1923 – 8 April 2010) was an English philosopher. Belonging to the analytic and evidentialist schools of thought, Flew was most notable for his work related to the philosophy of religion. During the course of his career he taught at the universities of Oxford, Aberdeen, Keele and Reading, and at York University in Toronto.
For much of his career Flew was known as a strong advocate of atheism, arguing that one should presuppose atheism until empirical evidence of a God surfaces. He also criticised the idea of life after death, the free will defence to the problem of evil, and the meaningfulness of the concept of God. In 2003 he was one of the signatories of the Humanist Manifesto III.
However, in 2004 he acknowledged the vast canyon between darwinian atheism and reality, even confessing his belief in the existence of an Intelligent Creator of the universe, shocking his fellow colleagues and atheists. In order to further clarify his personal concept of God, Flew openly made an allegiance to Deism, more specifically a belief in the Aristotelian God, and dismissed on many occasions a hypothetical conversion to Christianity or any other religion. He stated that in keeping his lifelong commitment to go where the evidence leads, he now believed in the existence of a God.
There Is a God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind
Late Oxford philosopher and outspoken atheist Antony Flew shocked the world when he announced that he had reversed his views about God’s non-existence. In his autobiographical work There is a God, which he humorously describes as a last will and testament of sorts, Flew describes his upbringing, intellectual development, and some of the arguments that ultimately led him to embrace theism.
Bio information sourced from Wikipedia
