So Lois, instead of responding here, you posted on the same subject on “why belief matters,” which surely is a related topic; in fact, I started it as a spin-off from this one. Your response begins with an idiosyncratic definition of belief that I don’t think you’ll find in standard dictionaries, and only reflects our critique of how our adversaries use the word. And of course, you completely ignore what happened here on this topic.
I’m not questioning your right to believe whatever you like, even to the point of believing with a high degree of fervency that you don’t believe anything. But you’re just reacting to the word, and using it in a way that is far outside of its accepted meaning. Of course, you can define it however you like but giving it an idiosyncratic definition is not at all consistent with your claimed interest in clarity.
I wasn’t going to respond to you any more, which I realize you might not mind at all but I thought I’d at least try to ask you what brings you here to a humanist forum. I thought we were all about reason, among other things of course, but that objectivity and reason were core values. What are your core values, and where do reason and objectivity fit in, if anywhere?