Antony Flew is one of the 20th century’s most prolific intellectuals and England’s greatest link to the Golden Period of Oxbridge philosophy. He was a witness (and contributor) to the rise and fall of logical positivism and his friends/foes list reads like a who’s who in philosophy:
*C.S. Lewis*Michael Dummett*Gilbert Ryle*Richard Swinburne
*Bertrand Russell
I myself have a half-dozen books on my shelf with his name underneath the title, and it is unlikely that any respectable collection of books on philosophy of religion wouldn’t include at least a smattering of his work.
Dick Dawkins, as you all know, published the God Delusion a few years back and the book was an instant success (as far as sales go). Though many on the overtly Christian side have criticized GD for being silly or inflammatory, there have been a few non-Christians to pick on Dawkins.
Add Flew to that list.
Flew claims that Dawkins is a “bigot” in the sense that he does not present the strongest position to attack. This can also be construed as a straw-man argument, but I tend to think that Dawkins has not presented the most charitable reading of his opponents (see here). We see this kind of thing all the time, but it appears to come with fundamentalism of any stripe, whether it be a Christian or Muslim or New Atheist. You see, “fundie” is a human condition, not a theistic one. I believe Flew (who has spent his career presenting his opponents most charitably) has cornered Dawkins. But we all know that a cornered fundie can be a dangerous animal, and I doubt we’ll find many atheists paying attention to the wise words of an old gentleman like Antony Flew.
‘Tis a shame.