The emphasis on belief is a mistake. Belief is cheap.
Example. Suppose my friend starts his own business, and tells me that it will be highly successful. There are several things I could do.
I could choose not to believe him.
I could decide to believe him.
I could invest on month's income in his business.
I could invest all of my savings (i.e. bet the farm) on the success of his business.
Belief or disbelief, the first two options, come cheaply. The investment options are more difficult, and should require a more evidence than the belief options. In particular the last option (betting the farm) should require a great deal of supporting evidence.
I can illustrate with an example from mathematics. A decade ago, a proof was given of Fermat's last theorem. I don't have any difficulty believing that. I'm willing to trust the word of those who say that they have checked the proof. But such belief is cheap. If I wanted to prove some other important mathematical result that depended on Fermat's last theorem, then I would feel obliged to carefully verify the correctness of Wile's proof (or some other proof) myself. I can believe cheaply, but only because it doesn't much matter.
Evangelical Christians are misleading with respect to belief involved with religion. They repeatedly assert that what is required is belief. However, in fact, they expect you to bet the farm, and will be skeptical that you are a Christian unless you bet the farm.
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