Is a belief intellectually honest without evidence?
In debates about religion, I often hear that faith requires no evidence, but that seems to place religious beliefs beyond rational scrutiny. Can a belief be considered intellectually honest if it's not based on evidence? For example, when someone claims a miracle happened, secular people demand proof, while believers argue that demanding proof misunderstands faith. My concern is this: if faith exempts itself from verification, how do we distinguish genuine religious experiences from delusions or even fabricated ones? Yet many people find deep meaning and moral grounding through faith, so maybe evidence isn't the only measure of a belief's value. Still, I worry that without some evidential anchor, any belief becomes permissible, leading to dogmatism.