Tag Archives: Antony Flew

Sabbatum Excerpt: The Fine-Tuning Argument Against the Odds of Life Emerging from Non-Living Matter


The fine-tuning argument for God is strong and getting stronger, as the astonishingly precise balance of physical constants is continually clarified by science. For many folks, such as Antony Flew, the inference to God has become irresistible. But Flew’s third major reason for abandoning atheism is perhaps the strongest of all—the impossibility of life emerging spontaneously from non-living matter. Even given a universe hospitable to living systems, one that is tuned to the “life-station,” there remain insurmountable odds against life forming anywhere, even given the 15 billion years since the Big Bang. In the early 1980s two scientists, Fred Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasinghe, calculated the odds of life emerging from non-living matter to be one in 1040,000. To put this enormous figure in perspective, consider that the number of atoms in the known universe is 1080—a paltry sum by comparison. Moreover, consider the fact that statisticians, as a general rule, consider any “possibility” less than one in 1050 to be impossible.

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Spiegel, James (2010-01-21). The Making of an Atheist: How Immorality Leads to Unbelief (pp. 47-48). Moody Publishers. Kindle Edition.

 

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Saturday Quote: Antony Flew on Christianity


“I think that the Christian religion is the one religion that most clearly deserves to be honoured and respected whether or not its claim to be a divine revelation is true. There is nothing like the combination of a charismatic figure like Jesus and a first-class intellectual like St. Paul. … If you’re wanting Omnipotence to set up a religion, this is the one to beat.”[1]

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[1] Antony Flew, There is a God: How the World’s Most Notorious Atheist Changed his Mind (New York: Harper Collins, 2007), 185–186. Print.