Cole Kander is an Alberta-based lobbyist, political advisor, and policy analyst.The Christmas holidays are a great time for tradition, family, and being thankful for what we have and what we can give to others. But regardless of the season, faith, and specifically faith in a god, is not a pejorative term by us "non-believers." It is just a term used by people who have no evidence for what they believe. Personally, I am 100% fine with anyone believing whatever they want, as long as it does not negatively impact anyone else.I agree with William Horton that I, as a non-believer, view faith in a god or multiple gods as irrational, but in his December 21st article, he doesn’t defend that argument. .HORTON: Which requires more faith — God or nothing?.The article offers no evidence and instead presents “intangible” and “emotional” arguments, since there are no rational, logical, evidence-based reasons to believe in a god.Let’s take a look at his arguments. First, always remember that even if the universe were precise, that does not mean it was designed. But the universe is far from precise. What I inferred he meant is that “precise” means the universe is perfect for life. Saying the universe is perfect for life is like a puddle saying the hole was designed for it. The puddle fits the hole because it adapts to it, not because the hole was made for the puddle. Would a perfect universe designed for us require humanity to develop the ability to detect and destroy meteors that could destroy life on our planet, again? Or is it because of the universe's chaotic nature?.Our universe is chaotic, not precise, and this is the answer to the rest of his article. Most of Horton's arguments, including “unrelenting symbiosis” and “balanced duality of nature,” rely on the same logical error, survivor bias. Symbiotic relationships emerge through natural selection. Parts of nature that happen to cooperate gain a survival advantage, and over time, this cooperation can appear intentional, but it is simply what endures. It is not evidence of design, only of survival in this chaotic world.Unlike the previous arguments, which were vague and, to most people, would seem significant, mainly because they are misunderstood, the “miracle of childbirth” is easily understandable. Childbirth was the leading cause of death for women before modern medicine. .WAGNER: Pierre Trudeau’s separation of God from government.Pre-1800s, your chance of dying giving birth was (depending on the source) one in six to one in 10. Again, this is another case for a chaotic universe, without a creator, where only the survival of the fittest matters. Otherwise, that deathrate would be intentional. Thanks to modern science, correcting this chaos has made life better.To get to the point and answer Horton’s question, one must make the following decision. You must decide between a chaotic world in which your mother had a high chance of dying giving birth to you, thanks to being created that way, the world possibly ending because of random space rocks, and believing in a god who apparently wrote the book of Genesis that tells the universe was made in six days in two different orders (look it up). Or you could believe in a chaotic world in which your mother has a high chance of surviving childbirth thanks to science, a world that is getting safer all the time thanks to humanity, and being okay with not knowing how the universe was created..The reality is that life, and specifically consciousness, is extremely rare in the universe and unique to humans on this planet. Through our consciousness and curiosity, we have paved the way for every generation to have a better life than those before us. Religion was our first attempt at philosophy and law. But thanks to our ancestors, who used religious teachings as a basis rather than as the final answer, we have overcome chaos and created solutions to the problems we evolved with. Life has become better after we have abandoned things that were believed and supported in the Bible, such as slavery, stoning, sexism, and the idea that the world was made in six days, to name a few, starting with 's'. I don't even want to imagine what our society would look like had it continued down the path of religious belief instead of questioning everything..HORTON: A Reminder for Christian Canadians struggling with their Faith.As you gather with family this holiday season in whatever chaotic fashion it may be, I hope you take the time to realize how exceptionally lucky you are to be here. The chances of life forming anywhere in the universe are infinitesimally small (not zero), and yet you are here. No one knows how, but we still search for the answer, one that we may never find, which I am at peace with not knowing. I know that our time in existence should be cherished, and every second should be valued, knowing that it is all I get. That makes life much more meaningful for me than it ever was when I was a Christian.But, don’t take my word for anything, nor Horton’s or anyone else's. Always question everything. As one of my favourite thinkers, Christopher Hitchens, once said, “Take the risk of thinking for yourself, much more happiness, truth, beauty, and wisdom will come to you that way."Cole Kander is an Alberta-based lobbyist, political advisor, and policy analyst.
