Letter to the Editor: Faith, by definition, is unfactual

Published 1:00 pm Friday, May 1, 2026

I’ll concede that I was a little to broad in my description of Mark Aker’s stance against abortion (“Correcting the record on abortion, religion”, published April 22) and for that I apologize but regarding faith and belief I stand by my statement that they are the two worst words in the English language.

Let me expound a little bit on why I think that is so. Faith and belief are, by definition, thinking something to be true with absolutely no supporting facts or evidence.

Now, why does that make them bad? Millions of people in our country, “believed” that Trump was a good choice for president, in spite of overwhelming evidence that he was a terrible businessman, six bankruptcies where he stiffed investors, suppliers, and employees alike, a terrible human being, bragging about grabbing women by their private parts and walking into dressing rooms of beauty pageants unannounced, cheating on all three of his wives, making unfounded claims about Muslims, that they were celebrating the fall of the twin towers in New York, and people of color, five young men who were later acquitted of rape, still insisting they should be imprisoned.

How about 400 years of slavery because the Bible not only condones it but gives instructions on how slaves should be treated. How about the killing of six million Jews while Pope Pius the XII looked the other way. How about the subjugation of the entire western hemisphere to Christianity by conquering and death.

And finally having faith in a book of fables myths and obvious mistruths about the makeup of our universe with, again, no evidence that anything in it is remotely factual is the ultimate leap of faith. Just sayin’.

Larry Benson

Enumclaw