From what I have observed in my friends and colleagues over the past several years, everyone believes in something. Most people believe in a great many things, and they disbelieve in just as many things, if not more.
I believe that my father is, in fact, my biological father. I have no absolute proof of this, as I have not had a DNA comparison test performed on the two of us, but I take into account his presence throughout my life, the (amazing) resemblance between us, and his overall impact on my thinking. Before that, as an infant, I believed it almost instinctively, without any consideration for the above elements. I have a similar story about every historical and trivia fact I can repeat, as does most everyone on earth.
I believe in these truths with a great passion. In fact, were you to show me pictures of another man whose DNA matched mine better than my father's, I would have trouble believing you. This is because I have decided that the statement "He is my father" is absolutely true. Similarly, I believe that fire burns my flesh; if you tell me that fire is a soothing moisturizer, I will not believe you because I judge that absolutely false.
All data passes through a filter in the human mind. In the beginning it is merely a truth claim, such as, "Dogs can't vomit through their ears." It has no value to me until I begin to weigh it against what I know. I have observed dogs vomiting through their mouths, and I know that the esophagus is not connected to the ears in any way. Thus, I categorize it either "True" or "False" in my mind (in this case, false). This is the most rational process for categorizing.
More common, though less rational, is the application of a logical fallacy as a filter. If an authority figure tells me saturated fat will clog my arteries, I will have a hard time categorizing it "false", even when the evidence indicates that it is, in fact, false. Similarly, if I accept a faulty premise, I cannot trust the conclusions at which I arrive.
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