THE SCIENTIFIC WORLD IS TURNING TO GOD

"As people have certainly been influenced by me, I want to try and correct the enormous damage I may have done." (Anthony Flew)

The newspapers these days are echoing with these regret-filled words by Anthony Flew, in his time a well-known atheist philosopher. The 81-year-old British professor of philosophy Flew chose to become an atheist at the age of 15, and first made a name for himself in the academic field with a paper published in 1950. In the 54 years that followed, he defended atheism as a teacher at the universities of Oxford, Aberdeen, Keele and Reading, at many American and Canadian universities he visited, in debates, books, lecture halls and articles. In recent days, however, Flew has announced that he has abandoned this error and accepts that the universe was created.

The decisive factor in this radical change of view is the clear and definitive evidence revealed by science on the subject of creation. Flew realised, in the face of the information-based complexity of life, that the true origin of life is intelligent design and that the atheism he had espoused for 66 years was a discredited philosophy.

Flew announced the scientific reasons underlying this change in belief in these terms:

"Biologists' investigation of DNA has shown, by the almost unbelievable complexity of the arrangements which are needed to produce [life], that intelligence must have been involved." (1)

"It has become inordinately difficult even to begin to think about constructing a naturalistic theory of the evolution of that first reproducing organism." (2)

"I have been persuaded that it is simply out of the question that the first living matter evolved out of dead matter and then developed into an extraordinarily complicated creature." (3)

The DNA research which Flew cites as a fundamental reason for his change of opinion has indeed revealed striking facts about creation. The helix shape of the DNA molecule, its possession of the genetic code, the nucleotide strings that refute blind chance, the storage of encyclopaedic quantities of information and many other striking findings have revealed that the structure and functions of this molecule were arranged for life with a special design. Comments by scientists concerned with DNA research bear witness to this fact.

Francis Crick, for instance, one of the scientists who revealed the helix shape of DNA admitted in the face of the findings regarding DNA that the origin of life indicated a miracle:

An honest man, armed with all the knowledge available to us now, could only state that in some sense, the origin of life appears at the moment to be almost a miracle, so many are the conditions which would have had to have been satisfied to get it going. (4)

Based on his calculations, Led Adleman of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles has stated that one gram of DNA can store as much information as a trillion compact discs. (5) Gene Myers, a scientist employed on the Human Genome Project, has said the following in the face of the miraculous arrangements he witnessed:

"What really astounds me is the architecture of life… The system is extremely complex. It's like it was designed… There's a huge intelligence there." (6)

The most striking fact about DNA is that the existence of the coded genetic information can definitely not be explained in terms of matter and energy or natural laws. Dr. Werner Gitt, a professor at the German Federal Institute of Physics and Technology, has said this on the subject:

A code system is always the result of a mental process… It should be emphasized that matter as such is unable to generate any code. All experiences indicate that a thinking being voluntarily exercising his own free will, cognition, and creativity, is required… There is no known natural law through which matter can give rise to information, neither is any physical process or material phenomenon known that can do this. (7)

Creationist scientists and philosophers played a major role in Flew's acceptance of intelligent design, backed up by all these findings. In recent times Flew participated in debates with scientists and philosophers who were proponents of creation, and exchanged ideas with them.

The final turning point in that process was a discussion organised by the Institute for Metascientific Research in Texas in May, 2003. Flew participated together with author Roy Abraham Varghese, Israeli physicist and molecular biologist Gerald Schroeder, and Roman Catholic philosopher John Haldane. Flew was impressed by the weight of the scientific evidence in favour of creation and by the convincing nature of his opponents' arguments, and abandoned atheism as an idea in the period following that discussion. In a letter he wrote for the August-September, 2003, edition of the British magazine Philosophy Now, he recommended Schroeder's book "The Hidden Face of God: Science Reveals the Ultimate Truth" and Varghese's book "The Wonderful World."(8) During an interview with the professor of philosophy and theology Gary R. Habermas, who also played a major role in his change of mind (9), and also on the video "Has Science Discovered God?," he openly stated that he believed in intelligent design.

The "Intelligence Pervading the Universe" and the Collapse of Atheism

In the face of all the scientific developments outlined above, the acceptance of intelligent design by Antony Flew, famous for defending atheism for many years, reflects a final scene in the process of collapse being undergone by atheism. Modern science has revealed the existence of an "intelligence pervading the universe," thus leaving atheism out of the equation.

In his book "The Hidden Face of God," Gerald Schroeder, one of the creationist scientists who influenced Flew, writes:

"A single consciousness, a universal wisdom, pervades the universe. The discoveries of science, those that search the quantum nature of subatomic matter, have moved us to the brink of a startling realization: all existence is the expression of this wisdom. In the laboratories we experience it as information that first physically articulated as energy and then condensed into the form of matter. Every particle, every being, from atom to human, appears to represent a level of information, of wisdom." (10)

Scientific research into both the functioning of the cell and the subatomic particles of matter has revealed this fact in an indisputable manner:

Life and the universe were brought into being from nothing by the will of an entity possessed of a superior mind and wisdom. There is no doubt that the possessor of that knowledge and mind that pervade the universe at all levels is Almighty Allah. Allah reveals this truth in the Qur'an:

Both East and West belong to Allah, so wherever you turn, the Face of Allah is there. Allah is All-Encompassing, All-Knowing." (Qur'an, 2:115)

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i Richard N. Ostling, "Lifelong atheist changes mind about divine creator," The Washington Times 10 December 2004; http://washingtontimes.com/national/20041209-113212-2782r.htm
2- Antony Flew, "Letter from Antony Flew on Darwinism and Theology," Philosophy Now; http://www.philosophynow.org/issue47/47flew.htm
3- Stuart Wavell and Will Iredale, "Sorry, says atheist-in-chief, I do believe in God after all," The Sunday Times, 12 December 2004; http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1400368,00.html
4- Francis Crick, Life Itself: Its Origin and Nature, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1981, p. 88
5- John Whitfield, "Physicists plunder life's tool chest", 24 April 2003; http://www.nature.com/nsu/030421/030421-6.html
6- San Francisco Chronicle, 19 February, 2001
7- Werner Gitt, In the Beginning Was Information, CLV, Bielenfeld, Germany, pp. 64-7, 79
8- Antony Flew, "Letter from Antony Flew on Darwinism and Theology," Philosophy Now; http://www.philosophynow.org/issue47/47flew.htm
9- "Atheist Becomes Theist: Exclusive Interview with Former Atheist Antony Flew;" http://www.biola.edu/antonyflew/index.cfm
10- Gerald Schroeder, The Hidden Face of God, Touchstone, New York, 2001, p. xi

IN EVERY AGE THERE EXISTED AN IGNORANT SOCIETY

From the time man was created, there have always been two distinct societies: the ignorant society and the community of believers. All those who fail to observe the limits set by the religion, constitute the ignorant society. Despite discrepancies in beliefs, thoughts and ways of living, one fundamental rationale lays the groundwork for the life of all ignorant societies: not to adhere to true religion. The members of the ignorant society, merely limited strictly in their outlook to the worldly life, are defined in the following verse:

Those who entertain no hope of meeting Us, but desire the life of the world and feel secure therein, and those who are neglectful of Our revelations. (Surah Yunus: 7)

Those who love too well this fleeting life, and put behind them (the remembrance of) a grievous day. (Surah Al-Insan: 27)

It is not in any way wrong to enjoy the favors of this world. God created these favors and gave them to the service of mankind. However, members of the ignorant society fall into an error at this point: they never take satisfaction in what they possess and always want to have more. In the words of the Qur'an, "they are deceived by this world." What is more important, they never feel grateful to their Creator, the only One who bestows these favors upon them.

This is exactly why throughout history, regardless of the differences in their lifestyles, prosperity, races, colors and languages, all ignorant societies have displayed an astonishing similarity in terms of their fundamental reasoning and mentality. Whether a community is the most primitive tribe in history or the most glorious civilization dating back to time immemorial, or a contemporary society, the goal for all societies maintaining an existence rooted in "ignorance" has always been one and the same: worldly gain.

The Morality of Ignorance is a "System of Beliefs" Inherited from One Generation to Another

Another trait of the ignorant societies is the way they acquire information regarding life. Rather than from the Divine books revealed by the Creator, members of the ignorant societies gather all their knowledge pertaining to life from their ancestors (parents, grandparents, etc...)

Ancestors, the unchanging mentors of the members of the ignorant society, instruct their younger generations in the "religion of ignorance" and the moral values it encourages, and thus maintain the continuity of this primitive religion. These "mentors" themselves were likewise informed about the "fundamentals" of this corrupted religion by preceding generations.

Surprisingly, this system, inherited by one generation from another, is never questioned. Every item of information is accepted as a certain fact. All values of judgment, both right and wrong, are all passed on to the next generation, ready for their use. Such an attitude naturally never encourages the younger members to question the system or to find out anything about its reliability.

The Qur'an calls attention to the unquestioning support provided to this system and how ignorant people turn their faces away from the guidance of God without even feeling the need to ponder over it:

And when it is said to them: Follow that which God has revealed, they say: We follow that wherein we found our fathers. What! Even though their fathers were wholly unintelligent and had no guidance? (Surah Al-Baqarah: 170)

The Fact that They Make Up the Majority of the Society does not Indicate the Reliability of Their Rationale

The Qur'an provides another important fact about the ignorant societies: they always constitute the majority of the population as compared to the community of believers. The Qur'an informs us that the believers are always in the minority:

Yet strive as you may, most men will not believe. (Surah Yusuf: 103)

But for a few of them, they have no faith. (Surah An-Nisa: 46)

And most of them believe in God only when they can attribute partners (to Him). (Surah Yusuf: 106)

Surely this is not a coincidence but a special situation created deliberately by God for a certain cause. That believers are in the minority makes their virtuous conduct even more precious in this world. Furthermore, this is a factor enhancing their rewards in the Hereafter. This world surely has a lure as an essential part of the trial by God. Nevertheless, if concern for the Hereafter takes complete hold of one's mind and, in consequence, one's actions, one would surely be superior to the majority deceived by the attraction of worldly goods.

Besides, this is an important matter of trial for unbelievers. For the majority of the people it is customary to follow the general way of doing things in society. They simply take it for granted that the general attitude of the society is the righteous one. The same rationale further holds that the majority represents the absolute truth while the standpoint of the minority is to be approached with doubt and concern. Our point, put briefly, is: when summoned to the true path, by the guidance of God, people in a state of ignorance refuse to comply with this call on the flimsy pretext that it does not conform with the recognized social order. However, popular acceptance can by no means be an argument for truth.

This social criterion is surely nothing but an unsound judgment of the aforementioned crude understanding. Ignorant people make up the majority of the community merely because they all turn away in total ungratefulness from their Creator, simply preferring this world to the next. Surely those who adopt the attitude of such a society merely deceive themselves.

In the Qur'an God informs us about the reasons why these people in their state of ignorance make up the majority of the society and warn believers against taking this as a criterion for themselves:

And if you obey most of those on the earth, they will lead you astray from God's way; they follow nothing but conjectures and they preach nothing but falsehoods. Surely your Lord- He best knows who goes astray from His way, and He best knows those who follow the right course. (Surah Al-Anaam: 116-117)

Most of them follow nothing but mere conjecture. Assuredly, conjecture can by no means take the place of truth. God is Aware of what they do. (Surah Yunus: 36)

The attitude assumed by believers to find out the truth is explained in the Qur'an:

And there are among us some who have surrendered (to God) and there are among us some who are unjust. And whoever has surrendered to God has taken the right path purposefully. (Surah Al-Jinn: 14)

Ignorant Societies have Always been Warned Throughout History

Whoever goes aright, does so for his own soul; and whoever goes astray, does so to its detriment; no soul shall bear the burden of another, nor do We chastise a nation until We have sent forth a messenger to warn it. (Surah Al-Isra: 15)

And never did your Lord destroy the nations, till He had sent to their capital cities a messenger reciting to them Our revelations. And never did We destroy any nations unless its people were evil-doers. (Surah Al-Qasas: 59)

The above verses point to one single fact: to every ignorant society a messenger was sent to communicate the message of God. Out of His infinite mercy, God does not punish a society to whom His divine message has not been communicated. Through messengers, God informed man that there is no god other than Him and reminded them about the Day of Judgment.

And We sent to them a messenger from among themselves, (saying), "Worship God! You have no other god but Him. Will you not fear (Him)?" (Surah Al-Mumenoon: 32)

Another point deserves mention here: members of the ignorant society deliberately insist on maintaining their primitive thinking. They display an incomprehensible persistence in adherence to the religion of ignorance, although messengers provide them with clear explanations of the existence of God and the Hereafter. In another verse, the common attitude of prominent people of the ignorant society to the Divine message is recounted:

Just in the same way, whenever We sent a Warner before you to any people, the wealthy ones among them said: "We found our fathers following a certain religion, and we will certainly follow in their footsteps." (Surah Al-Zukhruf: 23)

They Spend Their Lives in Trouble and Anguish

People in a state of ignorance invest all their hopes and dreams in this world alone and forget the Hereafter. However, the attachment they form for this life often turns into an unbridled ambition. At this point, fortune, fame or status cease to satisfy the individual's worldly whims and desires. Success and prosperity only engender further ambition and greed rather than induce a peaceful state of mind. Such ambition, however, is detrimental to man's physical well-being. Ambitions also make him lose his moral values. Self-interest finally isolates him.

Though surrounded by a lot of people, people in a state of ignorance feel lonely and insecure, never finding a true companion. These factors together with other troubles (examined in the following sections) become a major source of disappointment. Under such circumstances, life becomes a burden rather than a source of joy and pleasure.

This is exactly what befalls the ignorant as a result of their own preferences. However, no matter what befalls them, they do not realize what is happening to their lives. Most of them only realize it after spending a whole life devoted to worldly pleasures, at the very time when they feel death is close. To their sorrow, however, it is too late. Even then, the grief does not stop there. God informs us that it is not only this life that they lose. Because of their adherence to primitive reasoning, these people will meet a grievous end in the Hereafter:

They indeed are losers who deny their meeting with God until, when the Hour comes on them suddenly, they cry: Alas for us, that we neglected it! They bear upon their backs their burdens. Ah, evil are the burdens which they bear! (Surah Al-Anaam: 31)

On the other hand, believers who spend their lives in the cause of God are rewarded with a beautiful life both in this world and the Hereafter:

So God gave them the reward of this world and the glorious reward of the Hereafter. God loves those whose deeds are good. (Surah Al-e Imran : 148)

Say: Who has forbidden the adornment of God which He has brought forth for His bondmen, and the good things of His providing? Say: Such, on the Day of Resurrection, will be only for those who believed during the life of this world. Thus do we make plain Our revelations for peoples who have knowledge. (Surah Al-Araf : 32)

This is the ayah starting with:

Those who believe and carry out their duty to God, theirs are good tidings in the life of the world and in the Hereafter. There is no changing the Words of God - that is the Supreme Triumph. (Surah Yunus: 63-64)