Non Sequitur

There’s a comic strip called Non Sequitur which has a strange sense of humor sort of like The Far Side. Non sequitur is Latin for “it does not follow.” Non sequiturs are common ingredients in a lot of humor. We often laugh (or sometimes cringe) when we see connections that do not make sense. The humor is in the absurdity of the situation. Non sequiturs are also fallacies of logic. They occur when logic goes awry. When we make unfounded conclusions based on certain assumptions, the conclusion is a non sequitur.

Here is an example. Say we see more births during a full moon. You might be tempted to say that the births are caused by the full moon, but is that really the case? Maybe there are seasonal variation at work. What we would need to do is track the daily birth rate over several months or years and then compare whether the birth rate when there is a full moon statistically differs from other times. This would enable us to determine whether there was a true connection between full moons and birth rates. Other non sequiturs do not lend themselves as easily to statistical analysis.

Some people claim that if the theory of evolution is true, then God cannot exist. Denying the existence of God is in direct contradiction with many people’s core beliefs so they do not accept the theory of evolution. However, this is a non sequitur. Whether the theory of evolution is true or not has nothing to do with God’s existence. The conclusion that God does not exist if evolution is true is a non sequitur. The real concern here is that the theory of evolution contradicts a literal interpretation of specific religious texts. However, it could be possible that God in his or her infinite power kickstarted evolution. Similar arguments could be made about the big bang theory. God could have inititiated the big bang. Accepting the evidence of the big bang in no way negates the existence of God.

The real motivation for making these kinds of non sequiturs is that we are uncomfortable with things that contradict one or more of our core beliefs. Instead of making these unfounded conclusions we should examine our beliefs and the available evidence and decide whether our belief system should be modified to accept new information. If we evaluate our beliefs and change or maybe even discard some of them, then we are cognitively flexible. Unfortunately, this process causes too much anxiety for many people and they fall back on what is most comfortable to them.

Each of us needs to decide what to do with scientific information. If we choose to ignore what we learn from science then we are turning our back on ourselves. We are curious creatures with the ability to discover knowledge about the world. If we discount what we find through science at the expense of long held beliefs then we have to question the validity of those beliefs. Perhaps we should accept what we learn through science and modify our belief in a God that can only work according to a literal interpretation of ancient religious texts than make a non sequitur just to make ourselves feel better.