I THINK THAT folk on both sides of the question of catastrophic anthropogenic global warming refer to it as a matter of belief.
And then they want to argue the science.
Sorry, folks. Science is not a matter for belief. The very word means “knowing”. It is a method for apprehending the world. There’s no belief in it.
Me, I know — as best as can be known — that there’s no way that anybody … knows for certain what the temperature of the atmosphere is, has been, or will be. Ever. Let alone to within a margin of error substantially less than the claimed rate of change. If you do not know a the value of a variable scalar, then you cannot establish its vector. If you do not know the absolute value, even (let alone the sign), you certainly cannot establish a value for a delta — let alone its sign.
This is not advanced or esoteric. It is very basic. Elementary.
All of which assumes that the average temperature of so large and complex a system is a meaningful figure.
When someone wishes to thrust a matter of belief on you and claims it is a matter of science, you may rest assured that their intent is fraudulent.