So if you want to convince me to take God 'on faith', you're going to need evidence.
Who said I want to do that? I'm merely commenting on the arrogance held in common by people against religion and people against science. Neither side has any more basis for their claims than the other. Occam's Razor is a good rule of thumb, but it isn't based in reason either. It's just practical. The correct answer is the most likely to be the correct answer, whether it is simple or not, practical or not.
And yet... it's not whimsy or prejudice that drives me to accept these ideas. It's the fact that not assuming them automatically means 'game over'.
No, it's not whimsy or prejudice, but they are also not based on any provable evidence, and therefore not based in reason. I call this faith or belief, but I don't want to get too bogged down in semantics. Whatever you call it, it is not science or reason.
And, interestingly, if you accept such 'non-defeatist' axioms, you get a coherent and demonstrably productive worldview.
This does not mean you aren't making an assumption, and it doesn't prove your belief to be true. We've established that it's a practical decision, but that is not evidence that proves or disproves e.g. the senses. What's funny is that your logic here admits or at least lends credence to the belief in a god or gods. For if we are allowed to make assumptions about our senses and perception, why not accept the "non-defeatist axiom" that God made us and wouldn't give us senses that lie to us? That also can render a "demonstrably productive worldview" (e.g. Ghandi).
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
Everything is answerable with a scientifically plausible answer.
Prove that your senses and perceptions reflect reality. If you believe they reflect reality, you are engaging in just as much of a leap of faith as someone who believes in a higher power. There is no reliable evidence to prove that a higher power exists and their is no reliable evidence to prove that your senses reflect reality.
"Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberrys!" -- Monty Python and the Holy Grail