If a casual acquaintance reports that he has seen a large dog this morning in one of the lecture halls I would probably believe him, since it is not an intrinsically improbable occurrence. But if someone challenged me to bet a thousand dollars on it I might discover some doubt. If a belief seems to involve little risk and little cost we often do not demand a very strong reason. But a person who understands that his adoption of some religious belief would demand a deep change in his life is likely to demand a correspondingly strong reason for that belief.
(George I. Mavrodes, Belief in God: A Study in the Epistemology of Religion [Washington, DC: University Press of America, 1970], 82)
