Most religious people believe that stories from thousands of years ago are basically reliable accounts of what happened. Atheists believe they are not. Both si

Most religious people believe that stories from thousands of years ago are basically reliable accounts of what happened. Atheists believe they are not. Both sides have evidence for their beliefs, it depends on which evidence you find most compelling. Science shouldn't be thought of as a noun that you believe in, but as a verb that you do. You don't need to hold a certain belief to be able practice "science" you only need to be able to conduct a repeatable experiment. A person could believe with all his heart that he is 10,000 year old alien, and still be able to form a testable hypothesis and design and conduct a repeatable experiment. You don't have to be a strict empiricist to realize that empiricism is directly useful in day to day life. A theist can use the scientific process even if it means working with models he doesn't believe are wholly correct. Just like you can use Newtonian physics even if you realize it isn't a correct explanation of how things really work--because it is a useful model.