Looking directly at the nature of the religious mind is difficult for a religiously inclined person. The faith we are talking about is not faith, but belief. If we believe the sun rises in the east, we can entertain challenge to this belief, because it is based in truth. But if we believe the sun rises in the west, then the challenge to our belief is also to everything we have built around it. We cannot bear the challenge to our entire belief structure, so we cut off with reaction, dismissal, and avoidance.
Reaction can never see itself.
It has its own rationale for its existence. A simple observation would show that the sun does not rise in the west. The sun is rising. Belief can never be authenticated. It can be defended through reaction, it can be strengthened through conditioning, it can be expanded through coercion, but belief can never know if it is true or not.