Sewer rates and religious beliefs: That's a non-sequitur

Editor:

Most of us have heard of the idea of a non-sequitur from science, history, writing, speech and political science classes well before middle school. But seldom do we see such a perfect example of this logical blunder as in Rick Dow's column on higher sewer rates in Monday's paper ("Combining church and state precipitates a higher sewer rate," page 4).

As defined by Merriam-Webster's, a non-sequitur is "an inference that does not follow, ... a fallacy, ... a statement that does not follow logically from anything previously said."

The outrageous example in the column in question begins with a summary of American constitutional law, the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, U.S. Supreme Court opinions and freedom of religion. (Where's the United Nations Charter?) But concludes that "Global warming/cooling ... Climate Change" is an imaginary fabrication of some fanatically religious radical-liberals who "purchase a Toyota Prius or Chevrolet Volt." Oh, My!

What are we to make of the flooded beaches of California and Gulf of Mexico, islands submerged in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, disappearing glaciers in Greenland, Iceland, the North Pole and Glacier Park, receding ice caps in Antarctica, and flooding in the Philippines and Aleutians, as well as the eastern and gulf coasts of the United States, New Orleans especially?

Global cooling was surely an effect during the four major ice ages and occasionally since the last ice age, but the evidence is all but overwhelming now that the globe is headed into an unprecedented period of global warming, much, but perhaps not all, caused by human activity. In any case, whether global warming is a fact or not, the discussion is not advanced by ridiculously false logic calling on wholly unrelated issues.

I commend this column to teachers seeking an unprecedented example of the non-sequitur for their classes.

In God We Trust!

Bill Thackeray

Havre