In the way I was brought up, what you believe was important. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and ye shall be saved.” Was it St Paul who invented that mantra? Anyway, you were called upon to “stand up and be counted” in terms of your “beliefs”. Even on the last government census in the UK, which inquired as to your religion. Even what social class you are in, these days, is determined by which one you believe you are in. That puts me in the aristocracy: not the ermine-clad, coronet-topped toffs. No, I took a different turning on life’s track, quite early on, and joined the anti-social classes. I found my peers in books and works of art.
It seems to me perfectly obvious that the fewer the beliefs the better, if a belief is something we depend on but don’t know for certain. I have never believed. Instead, I have cherished Memorable Fancies, in the manner of William Blake.