Famous Atheist Now Believes in God

ABC News reported on Dec 9, 2004, that "One of World's Leading Atheists Now Believes in God, More or Less, Based on Scientific Evidence". Yeah, this is an old story, and it turns out to be false (Flew still claims to be a non-theist), but I've been hanging onto it for a while. Mostly, I was struck with the fact that I've always enjoyed Flew's writings--even if I didn't always agree with them even when I, myself, was an atheist. What struck me is the parallel in my own story.

For years, I believed Christianity was intellectually bankrupt. How could anyone choose to ignore the facts of science and history, lay down all valid philosophical tools and accept a mythical and mind-numbing religion? It simply made no sense to me based on my past experience and what I "knew" about humanity.

My New Year's resolution for 1986 was to re-examine my atheism and my anti-religious preconceptions. I started listening to Dr. J. Vernon McGee, watching Jimmy Swaggart (in the midst of Swaggart's hounding of Marvin Gorman and only 2 years before his own "moral failure") and a variety of other preachers I could catch on the radio and on TV. I also spent quite a bit of time looking over my "bibles", works by Marx, Russell, Paine, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche and even Flew himself, as well as dabbling in other religions, particularly European Paganism and Native American religions. The details are now pretty sketchy in my mind, but I did more reading at that time than I think I ever did in my life. I wish I still had all those notes too; I think I filled up two college rule spiral binders with scribbles. Some very long talks with the Pastor of my local Presbyterian community church, really helped to answer some burning questions as well. (Mind you, this was ten or more years before studying these subjects in an "accredited" way at Portland State University.)

It was just before Easter of 1986, that I committed my life to Jesus after a long winter of struggling with the hypocrisy of Swaggart and my early experiences with the Church and the growing dissatisfaction with radical materialism. It goes without saying that I'm still a bit of a "free-thinker" (I still have a tendency to annoy my fellow Christians from time to time!), but I have yet to find a fully developed philosophical reason to abandon my faith despite the many problems associated with that faith.