This understanding of the term ‘atheism’ has come to be more widely acknowledged through the work of contemporary atheist writers and is also indicative of Flew’s overarching dedication to the importance of evidence and open-mindedness in intellectual pursuits. Flew was dissatisfied with the popular application of the term ‘atheism’, asserting that while it was commonly used to express a positive claim, it should rather be flipped and understood as a negative expression – ‘in this interpretation an atheist becomes: not someone who positively asserts the non-existence of God but someone who is simply not a theist.’ This distinction mattered for Flew as he believed the burden of proof for God’s existence lay entirely with the theist, and so one must therefore begin with ‘the presumption of atheism’. Continuing in this vein, it is Flew’s 1976 work The Presumption Of Atheism for which he is perhaps best known. God And Philosophy of 1966 won plaudits for how seamlessly it combined popular appeal and accessibility with academic detail and methodology. Flew wrote a number of books and articles on the philosophy of religion, many of which directly addressed and criticised theological justifications for God.
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