Logical Fallacy of Joint Effect / Common Cause / Confounding Factor

Joint effect is one of the many smokescreens that are used to cover the fact that the reasoning is based on one of the three fallacies of Agrippa's trilemma. Whenever a logical fallacy is committed, the fallacy has its roots in Agrippa's trilemma. All human thought (without Divine revelation) is based on one of three unhappy possibilities. These three possibilities are infinite regress, circular reasoning, or axiomatic thinking. This problem is known as Agrippa's trilemma. Some have claimed that only logic and math can be known without Divine revelation; however, that is not true. There is no reason to trust either logic or math without Divine revelation. Science is also limited to the pragmatic because of the weakness on human reasoning, which is known as Agrippa's trilemma.

The Logical Fallacy of Joint Effect / Common Cause / Confounding Factor occurs when one thing is thought to cause another, but, in reality, both are caused by a third thing.

Examples of the Logical Fallacy of Joint Effect / Common Cause / Confounding Factor

Bill Nye, arguing against Creation science: "There’s a question that troubles us all from the time that we are absolutely the youngest and first able to think, and that is, ‘Where did we come from?’ Where did I come from? And this question is so compelling that we’ve invented the science of astronomy. We’ve invented life science. We’ve invented physics. We’ve discovered these natural laws, so that we can learn more about our origin and where we came from."

God gave both the desire to know Him and the revelation of how to do science. In fact, every person naturally knows that God exists. It takes effort for a person to suppress the truth of God's existence and His laws, since God has revealed these things to every person.

"Because of reduced consumer spending, unemployment has increased."

Reduced consumer spending would cause an increase in unemployment. Irrational government regulation and taxation of businesses would cause unemployment to increase which would cause reduced consumer spending. As the nation's deficit increases and there are news stories about the possibility of recession, consumers and business people tend to become more cautious. This caution results in both reduced consumer spending and increased unemployment.

Christian: "I have above average intelligence an drive. This why I'm doing quite well financially."

God gave the intelligence. God gave the drive. God gave the health. God gave the financial prosperity. Many people are intelligent but not well-off financially.