(For the full cartoon, click here)
I became aware of this particularly irritating conservative mouthpiece via Pharyngula, via this piece as well as this one, and as this little ditty suggests, the fellow must indeed be somewhat batshit insane.
So, no little surprise when this sock muppet vomits up this really foolish piece of “wisdom” -
(It’s been a while since I’ve done a good fisking, so time to stretch the joints, and go to it.)
For the past half century, the leading atheist in the world was philosopher Anthony Flew. He wrote over 30 philosophical works laying the intellectual groundwork for nonbelief.
Right out the gate, D’Snooza really blows it. ‘Non-belief’ has had a colorful and diversified groundwork laid for many, many centuries. I do so despise folks who make it sound like it’s some fad, less than a few decades old.
He debated Christian apologists. He was widely cited in atheist literature and at atheist conventions. What distinguished Flew was how comprehensive and fully-developed his atheist philosophy was. Other philosophers, such as Bertrand Russell and Martin Heidegger, espoused atheist beliefs but those beliefs were incidental to their philosophy. Atheism was Flew’s philosophy. HIs works such as Theology and Falsification and The Presumption of Atheism were considered classics of theist thought.
Here he plays the little ‘atheism is a religion too’ card, which would slip by the less-informed reader.
Then Anthony Flew became a believer, and his book There Is A God describes his intellectual journey. Go ahead and order this book, along with my new book, What’s So Great About Christianity. Together the two books represent what atheism has always dreaded: historically based, philosophically rich, scientifically fluent, logically reasoned refutations of atheism.
As to Flew, his change of heart really doesn’t represent the rest of us, since we don’t have any high priests, or rely heavily on authoritative figures. There’s plenty of folks who switch sides, and last I checked, religion’s getting marginalized on a regular basis, to where it hardly matters as much as once it did. “As the arteries harden, the heart softens”, as H. L. Mencken once said.
Flew had no say in my choice. Raise of hands: how many of you out there used this fellow as a basis? Anyone?
Note that:
A. The Flew book isn’t to be released till later this month,
B. It’s already received a mixed review on Amazon, and
C. D’Snooza’s obviously trying to hitch a ride to promote his book.
Flew says he has a lifelong commitment to going “where the evidence leads.” And now, he calmly says, the evidence leads to theism.
He’s English: of course he’s going to be calm about it. Yeesh.
His own past writings have been exposed as a “relic.” Flew writes, “My discovery of the divine has proceeded on a purely natural level, without any reference to supernatural phenomena…It has had no connection with any of the revealed religions. Nor do I claim to have had any personal experience of God or any experience that may be called supernatural or miraculous. My discovery of the divine has been a pilgrimage of reason and not of faith.”
That’s all well and good: I may just get his book, but not D’Snooza’s.
However, the following is good for a goggled giggle:
Flew’s argument for God combines science and philosophy, and I’ll let you discover it for yourself in his book.
Gee, thanks.
What I enjoyed was the way he uses simple analogies to expose atheist illogic. For instance, leading atheists seek to prove that the mind is no more than the brain. If the brain is destroyed, they say, we can’t use our minds. Therefore there is nothing to minds excerpt circuits and neurons. Flew gives the example of a child raised on a remote island who finds a satellite phone. Voices come out of the machine. The child recognizes these voices as human and is thrilled by the discovery that she has found a way to interact with other humans. Perhaps there is life outside the island! Then the elders of the tribe (if I may embellish Flew’s account, let’s call them Big Chief Dawkins, Grand Pooh Bah Dennett, and Witch Doctor Pinker) scorn the child and say, “Look, when we damage the instrument, the voices stop. So they’re obviously nothing more than sounds produced by the unique combination of metals and circuit boards. Forget about learning about other humans. From all the evidence we have, we are the only living creatures on earth. So go back to making sandcastles.” Who are the real dummies here?
I really do hope that D’Snooza’s quoting out of context, because that’s the fucking dumbest analogy I could’ve ever read. Complete non sequitor. First off, a human being is not ‘receiving signals’ from elsewhere. The human body is entirely self-contained: IOW’s, the brain is the sole source of our thoughts, responses, cogitations, etc. Are there any studies (I mean, serious studies, not cobbled up by a kook in a tinfoil hat) that even point to an outside source? Are we just meat puppets for your little cosmic baby sitter?
Of course, this is a squalid effort to portray atheists as blinkered, stubborn individuals who refuse to consider evidence contrary to what we as individuals would rather ‘believe’, but where is the evidence? Flew posits that the teleological argument is powerful in and of itself, and it is a toughie, I’ll grant that. But since this universe seems to be a black hole factory, and the abounding evidence that if there was a designer, the clown would be fired from the interior/exterior design department of any retailer in the US, we can pretty much scotch the whole concept. That is, if anyone minds the sheer incompetence of the job.
Anthony Flew has been banished from the atheist community. Anthologies have been reprinted removing his essays.
Community? We still don’t really have a community. Such is the way with free-thinkers. Which anthologies? I’m seriously curious.
Atheist websites condemn him as an apostate. (Atheist toleration does not extend to former atheists.)
To which I reply:
“For one man to say to another, “I tolerate you,” is an assumption of authority — not a disclaimer, but a waiver, of the right to persecute.” – Ingersoll
And since no one is tarring and feathering the man, I can safely assume that simple disagreement doesn’t constitute actual intolerance.
He doesn’t even make the case for Christianity, as I do.
?!?!? When exactly was that, D’Snooza? When you trotted out this little gem?
But perhaps God’s purpose in the world (I am only thinking aloud here) is to draw his creatures to him. And you have to admit that tragedies like this one at Virginia Tech help to do that!
Really, truly, these conservative mouthpieces just leave me a-goggle, when truculent dipsticks open their mouths and begin babbling some of the worst sort of nonsenses.
But Anthony flew out of the atheist cuckoo’s nest, leaving anger and confusion among the unbelievers.
Really, now: I know there’s probably some ticked off atheists out there, but then, this is one guy, out of a long, long list of non-believers. D’Snooza would have the average believer think we were on the fucking ropes here.
Not even close.
And religion is the cuckoo, here, folks. Brief synopsis: the cuckoo bird lays its eggs in another species’ nest, and the offspring end up hoarding the food and shoving its nest-mates out. History will bear out this analogy. Christianity alone has laid its eggs in far too many cultures, and forced its backwards ways on too many folks for far too long.
And now Flew tells us why he rejects atheism. The atheist monopoly on public debate is over: the theists are striking back.
Monopoly? What planet is this guy living on? Bizarro World? The US is virtually inundated with crap about religion, it’s fucking everywhere. Challenging the delusory status quo is the American Way, it’s what we do, in the (far too) slow maturation process of humanity.
Really, these cheap histrionics pretty much make Dinesh D’Snooza (who needs to seriously wake his ass up) the latest version of the Jerry Springer of journalism.
Is anyone reeling from the impact? Slapping the ring tarmac? ‘Cause I’m telling you, folks: I’m still waiting for a knockout punch, and thus far, am still standing with my dukes up. I’m still waiting for a contender.
This is the Apostate signing off. Till the next post, then.
Yep, once in a while you just need a 
