1. FLEW AND HARE - OVERVIEW
Parable of the Gardener
Despite the evidence, the believer refuses to accept that there is no gardener and just changes his ideas so that they still fit.
Qualification
When someone refuses to accept that they might be wrong and just modifies their story to fit with new evidence.
Interpretations of Religious Language
Liberal – stories with a meaning.
Traditional – factually true.
Assertions
If a person will not allow their ideas to be falsified (ie, proved wrong) then these ideas are not based on facts and are therefore meaningless.
Example of the Dying Child
Flew doesn't say it explicitly, but his conclusion is that, if a believer maintains a belief in a loving God REGARDLESS of what happens, then that belief is a meaningless belief.
HARE
Parable of the Paranoid Student
A student who is convinced that all of his professors are trying to kill him. His friends present him with evidence for why he is mistaken but the student refuses to take it on board and qualifies his belief instead.
Bliks
A blik is the way in which someone views the world. A blik is a bit like a gut feeling, it is not based on facts. This means that you can't contradict a blik with more facts.
Hume
Asserts that bliks are our foundation for how we view the world
Science and Religion
Only scientific statements need to be falsifiable and Hare has shown that religious statements aren't like scientific statements.
Atheists
Says that some atheists might genuinely abandon the religious blik. Hare thinks that the religious blik has kept evil urges restrained, but these will express themselves once the religious blik is abandoned.
Detachment
Argues that religious questions have a direct impact on how a person lives their life whereas the same is not true of scientific ones. It is therefore not appropriate to apply the same rules of ‘what is meaningful?’ to both disciplines.

2. Parable of the Gardener
Despite the evidence, the believer refuses to accept that there is no gardener and just changes his ideas so that they still fit.
Interpretations of Religious Language
Qualification
When someone refuses to accept that they might be wrong and just modifies their story to fit with new evidence.
Assertions

3. Liberal – stories with a meaning. Traditional – factually true.
Example of the Dying Child
Flew doesn't say it explicitly, but his conclusion is that, if a believer maintains a belief in a loving God REGARDLESS of what happens, then that belief is a meaningless belief.
If a person will not allow their ideas to be falsified (ie, proved wrong) then these ideas are not based on facts and are therefore meaningless.
Parable of the Paranoid Student
A student who is convinced that all of his professors are trying to kill him. His friends present him with evidence for why he is mistaken but the student refuses to take it on board and qualifies his belief instead.

4. Asserts that bliks are our foundation for how we view the world
A blik is the way in which someone views the world. A blik is a bit like a gut feeling, it is not based on facts. This means that you can't contradict a blik with more facts.
Argues that religious questions have a direct impact on how a person lives their life whereas the same is not true of scientific ones. It is therefore not appropriate to apply the same rules of ‘what is meaningful?’ to both disciplines.
Hume
Asserts that bliks are our foundation for how we view the world
Detachment

5. HARE FLEW Science and Religion
Only scientific statements need to be falsifiable and Hare has shown that religious statements aren't like scientific statements.
HARE
Atheists
Says that some atheists might genuinely abandon the religious blik. Hare thinks that the religious blik has kept evil urges restrained, but these will express themselves once the religious blik is abandoned.
FLEW