...are christians who believe in God, but never saw him and never heard him, hoping or hyping? Just curious...

Sorry, but i had to jump in.....

Just the way i see it...(all IMO)

The core, the basis for christians, for muslims, for lawyers or judges, for policemen, for doctors for anyone is..:

A) First: They believe!

(in a religion, in the words of law, in the execution of law, in healing)

"Hoping" is to believe in doubt. (Hope dies last)

"Hyping" is to believe in manipulating others

B) Second: equal, cognitive-logic, emotion, intuition, etc. (perception)

C) Then comes: actions based on value (to believe in fear or in confidence)

Under these aspects, to argue what kind of believe is right or wrong is like radicals fighting, it is fruitless, ......so...EOM on my side!