Theists, what does faith mean to you?

[robvalue]

You are totally right, there is plenty of evidence that suggests their methods are unreliable. However, I would guess someone who relies heavily on such methods is far less likely to seek out this kind of evidence, and more likely to dismiss it because "they know better" when it is presented to them.

It must be possible for this to change, as I've heard many deconversion stories where people were relying heavily on emotions and "experiences" for evidence, and later became critical thinkers and flushed it all away. However, if you're naturally very strongly in the first group, it probably takes some considerable effort to make the change; if you event want to.

The only question is whether people in the first category find religion, or whether religion creates people in the first category. A bit of both, I expect.

PS: it's the people who are in category 2 for everything besides religion that are the most "interesting".