Christ's birthday

[amw79]

Isn't believing something without evidence a stupid thing to do.

Not necessarily. We often believe something because there is no reason not to believe it,because "it seems reasonable"

I will accept a lot of things without direct evidence; EG much from first degree relatives. Past experience has shown I can trust them. [at least within limits I understand] I accept what they tell me on face value ,and act on that information,even though I may not have any proof. I think that's called 'acting on faith'

Human beings do it constantly day-to-day. When it exceeds an undefined reasonableness,one is considered 'gullible'. Many atheists here (including me) consider say creationists,conspiracy theorists, and people who give money to televangelists to be gullible.

This is also where "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence" comes in. If someone tells me they can juggle with 3 tennis balls and is absolutely adamant about it, but there's no tennis balls around to prove it; I may be inclined to believe them. If someone tells me they can walk on water - my bulshit detector kicks in.

This isn't exactly acting on faith (i.e. the tennis ball example), its more a subconscious calculation of probability; or application of, as you say, reasonableness. It's not outside the bounds of expection to see someone juggling 3 tennis balls, but it is to see someone walking on water.