Faith and the public discourse

This morning, Leonard Pitts suggests that most of us believe with questions when it comes to religion. That reminds me of a story I told my philosophy professor about someone I knew who wanted to follow the teachings of Jesus. This person believed the bible had the teachings of Jesus, but they'd also gotten mixed up with some other stuff -- but that was OK, because he could tell the true teachings of Jesus from the other stuff. The piece I don't understand about religion is why it's OK to be an atheist with respect to all the other religions, but not with respect to the other one. Where is the evidence that let's one make an informed decision?

I see the same reasoning among the logic that Sarah Palin and her supporters are making for her to be vice-president. She complains about the northeastern media elite who have unreasonable expectations about the knowledge that a prospective candidate should have. I can't believe anybody would fall to that line of reasoning: if your car is broken, do you hire someone who gives as evidence of their credentials, "I can see a repair shop from my window." Do you want a doctor who can't answer basic questions about human anatomy? C'mon!