belief is...

Belief is.....
a good question.

well, it involves NOT knowing. If I knew, then belief wouldn't be a factor. It would be knowing. Thus, it is to think something is true without direct evidence. Sounds dicey, right? That's what makes it belief. Anyway, belief is a mental state, and in that sense it's no different than other mental states. For the atheist, what does it matter if someone believes or not? Is the problem that someone is believing something that is not true? Well, what's true? Can you tell me that? And even if someone spends his life believing something that's not true, so what? Don't we all do that to some degree? So what. The atheist shouldn't really care because after we're dead it doesn't matter.

Mental states are not observable by others, but actions are. We are accountable for our actions, but our mental states are private.

Believing and not believing: what's the difference? Two mental states. Actions; now there we have something we can work with.