Here's a clue: Belief about reality doesn't effect reality, only what you do about it. You can *believe* with every available erg of energy in your body that that bus bearing down on you will not kill you but the reality will not be changed when it hits. So who cares what you or I believe? That is the issue - when the topic of science is being taught in public schools, will it be based on a superstitious belief rooted in ignorance or will it be based on a systematic approach to finding out about reality? Did I answer your question? Not directly because your focussed on belief rather than reality. When a person says in a religious context "I have faith that " they are saying "I acknowledge that I have no rational explanation for saying this is so, but I am slapping the label of piety upon it so it wouldn't be polite for you to look too closely." Faith is a claim that ignorance is not merely enough of an explanation but that it is a superior explanation. That's a popular notion that people are free to advocate, just as I am free to say that it is a matter of trying to pretend away reality.