Religious faith is not trust based on experience, and the conflation of the religious and colloquial meanings of the English word "faith" is extremely unfortunate. When I mean trust, I say trust. When I mean faith, I qualify it as religious faith.

So I agree with Loftus' statement except for the last sentence.

"Faith must end because it is the antithesis of an intellectual virtue"

"According to the Pew Research Center's 2012 global study of 230 countries and territories, 16% of the world's population is not affiliated with a religion, while 84% are affiliated"

If it has to end it has a long way to go. The problem I think has to do with various possible uses of the word 'faith'. I doubt we could be human without certain types of faith.

Religion is basically memetics and arbitrary norms.

Your comments are valid. Nearly all religions say
" Believe, Believe." Especially the Roman Church. It's part of the dogma enforced in the party line.
Buddhism however says..."doubt"...for when you have doubt you seek to know. When you know a thing, belief is no loner necessary.

But that's how con artists, blaggers, etc work. They all copy the original!