Human history is highly nonlinear and unpredictable.

We are a fluke of nature, a quirk of evolution, a glorious contingency.

Absolute morality leads logically to absolute intolerance.

Scientists like Bjorn Lomborg in The Skeptical Environmentalist have, in my opinion, properly nailed environmental extremists for these exaggerated scenarios.

People who espouse Intelligent Design believe nature is so complex as to require an intelligent designer-God. Similarly, liberals believe the economy is so complex as to require an intelligent designer-government.

Flawed as they may be, science and the secular Enlightenment values expressed in Western democracies are our best hope for survival.

Religious faith depends on a host of social, psychological and emotional factors that have little or nothing to do with probabilities, evidence and logic.