The influence of Antony Flew.

[Pat Mustard]

His dementia probably had the biggest influence on Flew's "conversion" to deism.

So a brain disorder is the primary reason behind Flew converting from one intellectual and rational worldview to another intellectual and rational worldview?

Do we even have documented evidence that he was suffering from dementia at the time of conversion? I hear a lot of claims regarding that, but I'd like to see some evidence.

I have read but can't access the original NYT article (because I'm not willing to pay money to a right wing publisher) on Flew and the authorial origin of the book where he "converted" but read the wikipedia article and especially note 11 to find a link to it. It is clear from Mark Oppenheimer's article and his conversations with Flew that he a) didn't write the book b) never read the book and c) no longer had the mental capacity to remember much of his philosophical work.

The book where in Flew "declared" his "conversion" is essentially a compendium of the PRATTs recited ad nauseum by fundagelicals and not the work of a serious scientific or philosophical thinker.