In my previous Thread on “The Origin of Life”, I expressed my concern that Endnotes [1]a, [2]a, and [7]a, are not referenced within the body of the text. This is also true for Endnotes [25]a, [39]a, [39]b, [39]c, and [51]a.
I have a hypothesis which, although strange, is feasible: each of these Endnotes is an Endnote (or Footnote) of the prior Endnote. For example Endnote [1]a is actually the Endnote/Footnote to Endnote 1, not to the main text. This would mean that each is provided without reason or explanation.
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The key to understanding the brochure, “The Origin of Life” (whose name is a parody of Charles Darwin’s epic work), lies with two pairs of paragraphs on pages 13 and 22. The first of the paragraphs opens with “What do scientists claim?” while the following paragraph opens with “What does the Bible say?” Scientists only make “claims”, they only say what they “believe”, whereas the Bible “says”. The Bible is the authority.
The author therefore only needs to debunk scientists’ “claims” without having to provide an equivalent forensic examination of the Bible (let alone explain why they use the Christendom Protestant Bible). All the author has to do is keep throwing darts at scientists, while at the same time make full use of their scientific knowledge to show that “what the Bible says is scientifically accurate” (page 30).
Since the author starts with the position that the Bible is the authoritative source, there is no need to draw on the support of any Creation scientist. To be seen to be aligned with Evangelicals, in any case, would be somewhat embarrassing, to say the least. Therefore, at the outset the author distances the brochure from “religious groups who want to have creation taught in schools” (page 3)
These predispositions set the brochure’s parameters: Use science and the Bible to attack scientists, all the while keeping well clear of all other religions that defend Biblical authority on creation.
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Apart from the nebulous process described at the start of this piece, the author’s methods of citing and representing sources are illustrated on page 21:
“More recently, noted philosopher Antony Flew, who advocated atheism for 50 years, did an about-face of sorts. At 81 years of age, he began to express a belief that some intelligence must have been at work in the creation of life. Why the change? A study of DNA. When asked if his new line of thought might prove unpopular among scientists, Flew reportedly answered: ‘That’s too bad. My whole life has been guided by the principle … [to] follow the evidence, wherever it leads’.” (Associated Press Newswires, “Famous Atheist Now Believes in God,” by Richard N. Ostling, December 9, 2004).
The article is accessible at: http://s8int.com/Godexists.html and it shows that the full quotation is actually: “If his belief upsets people, well ‘that’s too bad,’ Flew said. ‘My whole life has been guided by the principle of Plato’s Socrates: Follow the evidence, wherever it leads’.” “I’m thinking of a God very different from the God of the Christian and far and away from the God of Islam, because both are depicted as omnipotent Oriental despots, cosmic Saddam Husseins,” he said. “It could be a person in the sense of a being that has intelligence and a purpose, I suppose.” …
A different article shows what the brochure means with “an about-face of sorts”:
“To make things perfectly clear, he told me: ‘I understand why Christians are excited, but if they think I am going to become a convert to Christ in the near future, they are very much mistaken.’ … Flew is not worried about impending death or post-mortem salvation. ‘I don’t want a future life. I have never wanted a future life,’ he told me. He assured the reporter for The Times: ‘I want to be dead when I’m dead and that’s an end to it.’ He even ended an interview with the Humanist Network News by stating: ‘Goodbye. We shall never meet again’.” (http://evidenceforchristianity.org/michael-flew-world-famed-atheist-now-believes-in-god/ ). In Flew’s book, available for download at https://www.difa3iat.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/There-is-a-God.pdf , pages 74-75 he explicitly credits DNA for his change. He died aged 84.