I see the change in belief as always being a two-step process: 1. Receiving and understanding new information 2. Processing and integrating that new informati

I see the change in belief as always being a two-step process: 1. Receiving and understanding new information 2. Processing and integrating that new information. When the belief you are updating is a relatively unconnected node in the graph of beliefs, that second processing step takes almost no time. If it's heavily connected, the processing takes longer. That's why conversions often seem "spontaneous": your subconscious has been busily reworking the web of beliefs to integrate the new information, and eventually everything clicks into place and you have an epiphany. I don't see faith as some special category of per se. To my mind, faith is simply another word for trust. The implication is simply that it is a belief you are willing to act on.