Beliefs Don't Change Facts. Facts, if You're Reasonable, Should Change Your Beliefs.

The statement is true.  But the problem is that Mr. Gervais holds that religion is belief, not fact.  That "belief" doesn't indicate something someone actually perceives, but rather that someone who "believes" has some misty notion that X is so.  For example, one might believe that Norway is a country and one might also believe that Santa Clause is real. 

That's not how Christians use "believe."  I believe it's raining when I go outside and rain falls, or when I'm inside but I hear the rain.  That is, I have some amount of evidence for my beliefs, or I do not believe them. 

Children believe that Santa Clause is real because there are presents under the tree in the morning and the cookies have been eaten, but those beliefs are based on provable deceptions.  We often hear the story of the child who stayed awake all night, hiding at the top of the stairs, only to find mommy and daddy placing the presents, eating the cookies, and having a smooch.  Such a child, when presented with the facts, ceases to hold "belief" in Santa Clause.  According to what Mr. Gervais is saying in this meme, however, Christians who are presented with the same level of evidence as the hiding child refuse to change their beliefs.

This is disingenuous.  If, somehow, the body of Jesus could be produced, I would cease to be a Christian.  But that is the level of evidence the child has who sees his parents kissing under the mistletoe at midnight. 

The problem for Mr. Gervais is that Christianity has ALWAYS been an evidential faith.  The day Jesus rose from the dead, He spent some amount of time convincing His followers that He was not a ghost or an illusion.  He invited them to touch Him, to handle Him and see for themselves, and then He ate with them as further proof.  Later, He makes Thomas put his hand in His side, and his fingers into His hands, as evidence.  He did not berate them for not having blind faith, He provided them with evidence. 

Christians have done very well maintaining this level of evidentiary exploration all across the ages, making logical, philosophical, historical, and archaeological arguments to support their faith.  Indeed, when these tests of reason and science are applied to the Bible, it continually passes them. In over 2400 archaeological excavations, for example, the Bible has been shown to be accurate. 

Some examples are: (click the titles for links)

Evidence That Demands a Verdict: Life-Changing Truth for a Skeptical World 
by Josh and Sean McDowell

I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist
by Drs. Norman Geisler and Frank Turek

Mere Christianity
by C.S. Lewis

What's So Great about Christianity
by Dinesh D'Souza

Cold Case Christianity
by J. Warner Wallace

Reasonable Faith
by Dr. William Lane Craig

(NOTE: All of these links will open in a new window, so you can finish reading this blog even if you click on them.)

Ironically, then, it is Mr. Gervais himself who, when presented with the mountain of evidence for the Christian faith, refuses to "believe."  For him, no amount of evidence is sufficient, but any amount of rebuttal is quite adequate indeed.  It is the atheist, not the Christian, who believes in what he cannot see or know or prove.  And that is not belief at all, that is delusion.